New "details" related to Vietnam U21 women's volleyball team

(NLDO) – The Vietnam Volleyball Federation (VFV) believes that the FIVB's penalty for the Vietnam U21 women's team revolves around the athlete's identity documents.

Responding to the press on August 13, Mr. Le Tri Truong, General Secretary of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation, shared that the Organizing Committee of the U21 Women's World Volleyball Championship (BTC) requested to check the personal records of 3 athletes of the Vietnam U21 women's team: Dang Thi Hong, Nguyen Phuong Quynh and Le Nhu Anh.

Three "tomboy" athletes asked to check their personal records

It should be noted that these are three players on the attack line of the Vietnam U21 women's team, with "tomboy" looks, short hair, and a powerful playing style, which may be the factor that makes many teams afraid, having to "privately petition" the Organizing Committee to have tests that are not according to the tournament's regulations.

After checking, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and the Organizing Committee sent a document to VFV requesting documents, including the player's original birth certificate. VFV translated and immediately provided it to FIVB through the athlete's family and training facility.

Dang Thi Hong and Nguyen Phuong Quynh were not allowed to play in the last match of the group stage for unknown reasons.

The results showed that two of the three players had their birth certificates issued 1-2 years later than their birth dates, although their birth dates were completely correct. VFV explained that the reason was that due to their family circumstances in remote areas, some players had to issue birth certificates late. While awaiting verification, these two players were not registered for the match against Puerto Rico.

After VFV sent the information, FIVB accepted it, but in the early morning of August 13, they suddenly sent a conclusion that one athlete was not eligible to compete and posted an official notice about the punishment for the Vietnam U21 women's team.

Mr. Truong emphasized: "When VFV received the request and the test results, we were very surprised because there was no precedent for such a test. VFV is coordinating with functional units to have a legal basis and then give opinions to FIVB.

In the conclusion, FIVB also cited the regulations, but from VFV's perspective, we feel it is not clear and want to know specifically what happened.

Therefore, we are preparing a document today (August 13) to send to FIVB, first to protect the athletes' rights and then to protect the reputation of VFV. We have followed the regulations, the documents were sent before the tournament, FIVB also reviewed the documents in the technical meeting and nothing happened. We will comment on that."

FIVB's penalty announcement causes public outrage

Mr. Truong also said that FIVB has the right to request the inspection of original records and individual athletes when there is a request from another team, but some regulations are new and have never been applied before. VFV is preparing an official complaint to protect the rights of athletes and the reputation of Vietnamese volleyball.

He also shared: "Regarding gender issues, including world volleyball or other sports , federations only advise athletes because this is a private, personal matter. Even FIVB does not require gender testing, only relying on birth certificates as a legal basis.

However, the federations have the right to check when there are problems or opinions from other teams, but it is not mandatory. The same goes for VFV, we have recommendations for clubs, and ideological education for athletes, but athletes have freedom and the decision is their own."

General Secretary Le Tri Truong affirmed that VFV and the Vietnam U21 women's team did not violate anything.

Regarding the risk of being fined, Mr. Truong affirmed that the athletes were not at fault and that VFV did not violate the law: "VFV hopes that fans will continue to support the athletes and the Federation. The athletes themselves, both male and female, and the Federation have tried very hard to achieve many achievements in the past time. In the coming time, the teams will continue their journey to raise the level of Vietnamese volleyball as well as the reputation of the Federation, and we look forward to receiving support from fans."

Through the incident, it can be seen that FIVB's handling lacked "understanding and reason", from the vague information in the penalty document, although the organization's working method was not wrong when everything was still under investigation, needing to be clarified further.

They cleverly "directed public opinion", forcing those who were interested to "understand" the issue surrounding the athletes' gender (even the suspicion of hormone injections with the intention of illegally increasing their performance) when they requested to test three "tomboy" athletes in the Vietnam U21 women's team.

Phuong Quynh returns to the match where Vietnam U21 women's team won big against Egypt in the 17-24 ranking round

Even the issue of checking documents, in fact, is just an excuse for FIVB to arbitrarily punish the U21 Vietnam team, without following any precedent or case law for similar incidents.

Just initially accepting all procedures, but witnessing the U21 women's team playing brilliantly, winning second place in the group with the home team and many "big sisters" turned everything upside down, showing that sports is not just a "game".

Being groundlessly punished (at least up to this point), the Vietnam U21 women's team, from the group competing for high rankings, now has to participate in the ranking round for the teams with the worst results in the tournament.

Unable to withdraw from the tournament because they might receive another penalty, fans expect the U21 Vietnam team to continue to surpass themselves. The team will compete as well as in the group stage to affirm their strength, not relying on any cheating or dishonesty as accused by the International Volleyball Federation.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/tinh-tiet-moi-lien-quan-den-tuyen-bong-chuyen-u21-nu-viet-nam-196250814070754161.htm