Gabon striker Boupendza dies in China

BEIJING: Football fans in China were outraged by Zhejiang FC’s decision to go ahead with a league match hours after the death of their Gabon international striker Aaron Boupendza.

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Police have ruled out foul play in the death of the 28-year-old, who died after falling from the 11th floor of a building in the eastern city of Hangzhou on Wednesday afternoon.

Boupendza’s Hangzhou-based club went ahead with their Chinese Super League fixture later on Wednesday against Meizhou Hakka, sparking grief and anger from fans.

“Shouldn’t this match have been postponed?” one wrote on the X-like social media platform Weibo.

“Why didn’t they postpone the match? The Chinese Super League is really very similar to another (unlisted) oil chat,” another posted on WeChat.

The match, which ended 2-2, was played in a sombre atmosphere with none of the club’s other foreign players taking the field.