The Olympics women’s hockey semi-final between China and Belgium descended into chaos on Wednesday when a Chinese player smacked the ball at an opponent after full-time.

The two teams were facing off at the final four stage in Paris, with both nations in search of their first ever gold medal in the event.

The clash was hotly contested, and the teams were level at 1-1 when umpire Amber Church blew her whistle to signal the end of normal time and a subsequent penalty shootout.

However, after the whistle had been blown, Chinese midfielder Fan Yunxia smacked the ball out of frustration at Belgium star Delphine-Daphne Marien in shocking scenes.

The impact of the ball caused Marien to drop to the turf in pain, with the incident leading to a major scuffle as several Belgian players confronted Yunxia, who was roundly booed by those in the crowd.

The Olympics women’s hockey semi-final between China and Belgium descended into chaos on Wednesday when a Chinese player smacked the ball at an opponent after full-time

After the whistle was blown, Fan Yunxia hit the ball at Belgium’s Delphine-Daphne Marien

Belgium’s players were furious with Yunxia and they confronted the China midfielder

Marien (bottom left) was left writhing on the floor in pain after she was struck by Yunxia

This included Judith Vandermeiren who shoved Yunxia as she tried to stand up for her team-mate.

Vandermeiren received a yellow card and a 10-minute suspension for her actions, but the 29-year-old attempted to defend her position to Church.

She was heard saying: ‘I’m protecting my team-mate. You cannot do that (yellow card me),’ before she walked off the pitch shaking her head.

Yunxia also received a yellow card, but it didn’t stop the Chinese coaching staff protesting the decision on the pitch.

China went onto win the penalty shoot-out 3-2, as their goalkeeper Ye Jiao stopped  Marien’s final penalty attempt.

‘We did what we had to do. These games you need to win. It doesn’t have to be pretty,’ China’s head coach Alyson Annan said after the match.

Yunxia was yellow carded by umpire Amber Church as was Belgium’s Judith Vandermeiren

China went onto progress to the gold medal match on penalties, by virtue of a 3-2 victory

‘We’ve also practiced shootouts every single training for the last year and a half. Every training. We didn’t miss a training. That paid off tonight.

‘You cannot leave anything out on the field. You have to give it your all. They did that. We’re in the final.’

Meanwhile, Vandermeiren explained the heartache among Belgium’s squad as she added: ‘It’s a tough one to take. I think we were very close today.’

China progress to the gold medal match, where they will take on the Netherlands, who defeated Argentina 3-0 in the other Olympics semi-final.

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