Bich Tuyen withdraws from SEA Games, Thailand ignores gender testing?

With just over a month to go before the 2025 SEA Games officially kicks off, host Thailand has yet to make any official announcement regarding gender testing.

Thailand may not conduct gender testing at SEA Games - Photo: TVA

Last weekend, host Thailand conducted a draw and announced the competition format for most of the sports at the 2025 SEA Games. This was considered one of the last important meetings to finalize the organization of the SEA Games, but the gender test was still ignored.

"The SEA Games organizing committee has just proposed the idea of ​​gender testing, but a Vietnamese athlete has withdrawn," commented the Thai website "Volleyball Live" (Thai name) when reporting that Bich Tuyen's name was not on the list of Vietnamese athletes registered for the SEA Games.

On volleyball forums, fans reiterated the information that Bich Tuyen's name was not on the preliminary registration list for the SEA Games - published by the Thai News Agency 1 month ago.

Along with that is the question of whether the Thai host country actually conducted a gender test, as they had announced 2 months ago.

In August, the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) shocked the world when it revealed that it would conduct gender testing in some sports at the 2025 SEA Games. SAT officials also made it clear that they would focus on athletics and competitive sports, such as volleyball, soccer, martial arts, etc.

There has been much debate surrounding this statement from host Thailand, especially as gender debates become increasingly heated in elite sports.

In subsequent meetings, the Thai side added that they would delegate the responsibility of gender testing to sports federations, which further obscured the issue of gender testing.

In the current elite sports world, only World Athletics conducts widespread gender testing for all athletes. Other federations such as volleyball and football currently do not have clear rules.

And with the 2025 SEA Games just over a month away from officially kicking off (some sports start competing from early December), host Thailand has yet to make any further announcements about this controversial story.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bich-tuyen-rut-khoi-sea-games-thai-lan-lo-luon-chuyen-kiem-tra-gioi-tinh-20251020191720872.htm