- Serbian player Sanja Djurdjevic was talking to her teammate when she pulled the racist gesture.
- Serbia won the match with a 0-3 score.
- 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.
- In 2017, the team made the gesture while posing for a photo, after they won the European championships, which landed them a spot in World Championships in Japan.
- In the statement, the federation said Djurdjevic “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.”
- “Everyone. [Djurdjevic] 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.
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