Forbidden to wear a bikini at a beach volleyball tournament in Qatar, the Germans cancel their presence: “We are prevented from wearing our work clothes”

“We are there to do our job but we are prevented from wearing our work clothes,” said Karla Borger Sunday evening on the airwaves of German public radio Deutschlandfunk. “This is really the only country and the only tournament where a government tells us how to do our job. We are critical of that,” added the vice-world champion.

Qatar is the host country of a World Tour Beach Volleyball tournament organized by the International Beach Volleyball Federation (FIVB) in March. This is the first time that this small Gulf state has hosted such a FIVB women’s tournament, after having organized a men’s competition for seven years, and in 2019 the World Beach Games, where players were allowed to wear a swimsuit. bath.

The players were asked to wear T-shirts and long pants rather than the usual high-cut swimsuits, a decision motivated according to the International Beach Volleyball Federation by “respect for the culture and traditions of the host country”.

In Spiegel magazine, Karla Borger insisted that while in normal times she was happy to “adapt to a country”, the extreme heat in Qatar makes it necessary to wear a bikini.

Her teammate Julia Sude noted that Qatar made exceptions for female athletes at the World Athletics Championships in Doha in October 2019.

No Belgian player will participate in the event unlike the Belgian N.1 duo Dries Koekelkoren and Tom Van Walle. Currently 36th in the world rankings, they must be in the Top 15, with a maximum of two teams per country, on June 27 if they want to qualify for Tokyo. Eight other places are allocated during the 2018 Worlds, the Olympic qualifying tournament and the Continental Cup in June. Japan is guaranteed to have a team.