On Tuesday, the Serbia National Team defeated Thailand in the fifth round of the 2021 FIVB Women’s Volleyball Nations League in Rimini (Italy), and the match was marked by a situation that attracted a lot of attention on social networks…
Please, don't blow this out of proportion. Sanja is aware of her mistake and she immediately apologized to the whole Thailand team. She only wanted to show her teammates "let's start playing defense like them now", she didn't mean any disrespect. Of course, it was unfortunate. https://t.co/UOkkYloeXd pic.twitter.com/knyz8mMnxv
— OSSRB (@ossrb) June 1, 2021
Volleyball fans from Asia occupied social media in the last two days, sharing the video from the 2021 Women’s VNL match between Serbia and Thailand in which two of the players of European and world champions made a ’Slant Eye’ gesture, which is considered racist. Serbia’s libero Sanja Djurdjević was under criticism of Asian fans more than her teammate, the setter Ana Jakšić. As an aftermath of the commotion in which even some other players and federations spoke up (such as the US federation on social media) condemning the gesture of Serbia’s duo, the Serbian federation (OSSRB) issued an apologetic note, just as Djurdjević, explaining what really happened in the match vs Thailand.
“Please, don’t blow this out of proportion. Sanja is aware of her mistake and she immediately apologized to the whole Thailand team. She only wanted to show her teammates ’Let’s start playing defense like them now’, she didn’t mean any disrespect. Of course, it was unfortunate. Was it uncalled for? Yes. Was it a racist gesture? Yes. What we argue is that there was no intention or malice. This young girl didn’t grasp the weight of the gesture. It’s unacceptable, we agree. But our girls are no racist by any means. We sincerely apologize to all affected,“ posted OSSRB along with the picture and video of Djurdjević and Jakšić hugging with a couple of Thai players – the captain Pleumjit Thinkaow and Nootsara Tomkom – after the game.
Nevertheless, it has to be stressed that this was not the first case of Serbian female players making offensive gestures towards Asian people. A similar situation occurred in 2017, when the Serbia National Team celebrated its qualification to the World Championship, posing in a similar way – with slanted eyes.
