RIO DE JANEIRO, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Iziane Castro Marques, a mainstay of the Brazilian basketball team, was cut from the Olympic squad on Friday for disciplinary reasons just eight days before the tournament.
Marques, a starting small forward on the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA, allegedly broke rules by taking her boyfriend back to the hotel in the French city of Lille, where Brazil is competing in a pre-Games warm-up tournament.
Brazil's delegation chief Hortencia Marcari did not confirm nor deny the allegations but said the decision to cut Marques was final.
"I'm not going to say what the reason was. The team has rules and they were broken," Marcari noted.
Earlier, Brazil's basketball confederation (CBB) released a statement saying the 30-year-old had been released from the squad for disciplinary reasons.
"Because of an act of indiscipline off the court, she was omitted by the head of the delegation, Hortencia Marcari, who made the decision together with the technical committee," the statement said.
Brazil will be forced to enter the Olympic tournament with 11 players due to rules which prohibit replacements that are not injury-related.