BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Qingdao FC's veteran striker Zhu Ting has been given a three-match ban for deliberately stamping on an opponent in a Chinese Super League game on last Saturday.
The 35-year-old got his marching orders for landing his right foot on the leg of Shandong Luneng player Song Long in the 82nd minute of the game, five minutes after he came on.
After the game, Zhu insisted that the stamping was not a deliberate act.
"I apologized to Song Long. I swear in the name of my ill father who is in the hospital waiting for an operation that I did not stamp on purpose," he said.
However, his plea failed to convince the Chinese Football Association.
"Zhu Ting deliberately stamped on a opponent," read a verdict from Chinese football's governing body on Wednesday.
On top of the three-game ban, Zhu was fined 30,000 yuan (about 4,636 US dollars).