Dang Thi Hong stopped playing

19-year-old volleyball player Dang Thi Hong will not be allowed to participate in tournaments in the official system of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation (VFV).

One month after being suspended from competing at the Women's U21 Volleyball World Cup, Dang Thi Hong continues to be banned indefinitely from competing in her home country of Vietnam.

Information blindness

At the 2025 Women's U21 World Championship held in Indonesia, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) determined that a Vietnamese player was ineligible to participate in the tournament. Along with suspending this player, FIVB also annulled the results, conferring a 0-3 loss on the Vietnam U21 team in four matches against Indonesia U21, Argentina U21, Canada U21 and Serbia U21.

Dang Thi Hong (left cover) sadly faces an unjust and inexplicable crime at the age of 19. Photo: FIVB

Immediately after the incident broke out, the Vietnam Volleyball Federation (VFV) immediately issued a statement, emphasizing that it "had complied with FIVB regulations on athlete registration procedures as well as submitted complete player profiles to FIVB before the tournament". VFV even said that it had filed a complaint according to the procedure, and coordinated with Vietnamese authorities to clarify and protect the rights of athletes as well as the reputation of Vietnamese volleyball.

Until now, volleyball fans and the media who have been following the incident closely have not known whether FIVB has announced a ban on any Vietnamese female players from the world tournament. The VFV's homepage and media channels have not published any announcements about whether FIVB has responded to the complaints from Vietnam. No VFV leader has spoken about this until after the meeting on September 11, the VFV Executive Committee issued a notice stating that "Athletes who are not qualified as determined by FIVB will not be allowed to compete in tournaments in the official competition system of Vietnamese volleyball until further decision is made."

Sudden change

VFV once stated that the incident at the U21 World Cup was just a "birth certificate problem", not gender fraud or drug use. However, while international volleyball officials have not responded specifically (or have responded in writing but VFV has not published it), VFV itself has suddenly changed its stance.

The decision to ban Dang Thi Hong from competing shows VFV's determination to comply with international regulations. It is not difficult to see that Dang Thi Hong and the U19 team will participate in the 2024 Asian tournament and win tickets to the 2025 World Cup. If VFV had been strict and thoroughly inspected from the beginning at every stage, would everything have "collapsed" and caused the reputation of Vietnamese volleyball to drop to such a low level as it is now?

No organization has yet determined the gender of Bich Tuyen or Dang Thi Hong, for ethical and human rights reasons. However, once it determined to comply with FIVB regulations and consider determining gender identity for athletes to ensure their eligibility to participate in domestic and international tournaments, Vietnamese volleyball has made people lose faith in its own unfair and non-transparent practices.

"By taking a strong action against Dang Thi Hong, does VFV admit that FIVB was right and that they were wrong from the beginning and very seriously wrong, and it is not even clear what the mistake was (!?). Who in the VFV apparatus let the mistake happen, dare to take responsibility?

Source: https://nld.com.vn/dang-thi-hong-dung-cuoc-choi-196250912204601384.htm