Beijing, Apr 17 (IANS): The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) has disqualified the Shanghai Sharks and the Jiangsu Dragons from the 2022-2023 CBA season on Monday, citing their lack of competitive effort in the first round of the playoffs.

In a statement, the CBA Disciplinary and Ethics Commission confirmed that Shanghai displayed negative contention in the second game of the series, while Jiangsu demonstrated a lack of competitive effort in the third game, which Shanghai won 108-104 to advance, reports Xinhua.

The behavior of both teams constituted a grave violation of sportsmanship, leading to their disqualification from the 2022-2023 season and nullification of their results.

Each club received a fine of five million yuan (approximately 727,000 US dollars).

Shanghai's coach Li Chunjiang received a five-year ban, while his Jiangsu counterpart, Li Nan, faced a three-year suspension.

Jiangsu's club general manager Shi Linjie was barred from basketball-related activities for five years, while Jiang Yusheng, general manager of the Shanghai club, faced a three-year restriction from basketball-related activities.

Following Shanghai's disqualification, the CBA league's governing body ruled that the Shenzhen Aviators would advance to the final four in the CBA playoffs.