Serbian Volleyball Team Under Fire For Slant-Eye Racist Gesture During Match

There’s absolutely no place for racist taunts on the playing field, or in this case, a volleyball court. The Volleyball Federation of Serbia officially apologized to the Thailand volleyball team after one of the Serbian players pulled a slant-eye gesture while on the court. The racist gesture happened during the match between Thailand and Serbia for the Volleyball Women’s Nations League 2021 in Rimini, Italy.

Serbian player Sanja Djurdevic was talking to her teammate when she pulled the racist gesture.

Watch below:

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The incident went viral on social media, with a TikTok video showing that this wasn’t the first time the team made the racist gesture.

@yourfavepersonever#fypage #fy #racistshit #racistcheck♬ original sound – Emma Roha

In the statement, the federation said Djurdevic “immediately apologized to the whole Thailand team.”

“She only wanted to show her teammates ‘let’s start playing defense like them now,’” the statement said, adding “she didn’t mean any disrespect.”

The Volleyball Federation of Serbia asked the public not to “blow this out of proportion,” describing the incident as “unfortunate” and “a simple misunderstanding.”

 

We are deeply saddened by the recent events that took place during the Serbia vs Thailand #VNL match in Rimini and the…

Posted by Odbojkaški savez Srbije on Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Thai player Pleumjit Thinkaow, who was reportedly the target of the gesture during the match, posted a video on Instagram accepting the Serbian player’s apology on Tuesday.

“Everyone. [Djurdevic] walked to our room. She said she was so stressed. She said she didn’t have the intention [to offend us]. Please forgive her,” Pleumjit wrote, Fox Sports Australia reported.

All’s well that ends well?


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