It costs a spleen to court a playful girlfriend

By Li Xinran  |   2008-12-30  |     ONLINE EDITION

A MAN has been sentenced to four years in prison for seriously injuring one of his rivals over a girlfriend in Qingdao, a port city in east China's Shandong Province.

The man, identified only as Wang, kicked the victim, surnamed Hu, violently in the belly and knocked him down on May 28. Hu later had his spleen taken out in hospital, according to Qilu Evening News.

Hu, a migrant to Qingdao, and Wang were two of eight suitors courting the love of a Qingdao woman surnamed Zhang. She maintained an ambiguous relationship with all of them and once joked that she would go with the strongest who could protect her.

The eight men decided to fight it out to determine the winner and the Zhang did not object.

Wang and Hu faced off first according to the draw result. The loser must stop contacting Zhang immediately, the report said. Both of them invited friends to witness the fight.

Hu suffered Wang's sudden strike without preparation and fell to the ground. Wang fled the scene immediately but was later seized by police.

"I never thought he could be injured so heavily," Wang said. "All I wished at that moment was to win the match," he added.

Wang told the newspaper he regretted for taking part in the fight.

Hu called Zhang after he was beaten but Zhang had changed her mobile number and couldn't be reached.

A court in Qingdao found Wang guilty for mayhem and ordered him to compensate Hu with 185,000 yuan (US$27,000) in cash.