So this is what happened almost 2 weeks ago:
A discussion between the players of Sesi and coaching staff from Medley/Campinas ended with the expulsion of Sesi’s players during the first game of the Paulista Championship finals, held on Sunday in Campinas.
During the passing from the third to the fourth set, some members of the Campinas technical staff, fitness trainer Jaime Antonio Lanzinni and physiotherapist Marcelo Duval Guidotti, started a discussion with Sesi players Cleber, Lorena, and Leozão. The fight started with mutual pushing, which led to Lorena shouting and swearing. After a few moments of confusion, members of two members stormed to the court to break up the fight. Arbitration decided to disqualify Lorena and Leozão. It all finished with thrown bottle towards the members of the technical committee, who dodged and were not hit.
The fight didn’t escalate because there was a net separating the the two sides. In this times of trouble, the Medley/Campinas was leading the match by 2 sets to 1. Even without two athletes, Sesi managed to win the fourth set and forced a tie-break. Then the crowd’s support made a difference, and the hosts, Medley/Campinas, won by 3 sets to 2.
As far as we know, players and coaching who were involved in this melee were suspended.
On the other hand, we praise Murilo for controlling himself despite of the unfortunate situation. As for Sidao, for such a world class player to stop down into such cheap fight was just disappointing. There were kids in the stadium who witnessed the fight and it’s NOT healthy for them to see it.
Athletes have responsibilities and we expect them to handle situations (like this one) the best way they can.