Hulk cleared of wrongdoing

A Chinese football official has said there is no evidence that Shanghai SIPG striker Hulk broke any rules after the Brazilian was accused of punching a rival team's coach.

Guizhou Zhicheng's then head coach Li Bing had accused the muscular Brazilian of punching his assistant Yu Ming in a racially-motivated attack at half-time during SIPG's 3-0 victory on Saturday, allegations that the Shanghai club and Hulk both flatly denied.

"At half-time there indeed was a dispute between the two sides. But according to our understanding of the situation so far, there is no evidence that Hulk violated any regulations," Li Lipeng, a Chinese Football Association (CFA) official involved in overseeing the professional leagues, said in Beijing on Tuesday.

Speaking to Chinese media, Li added that the run-in "was not as serious as some imagined."