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German professional beach volleyball stars Karla Borger and Julia Sude said on Sunday they would not go to Qatar for a tournament due to an issue with their playing attire.
Borger represented Germany at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro but lost, along with teammate Britta Buthe, in the round of 16. The duo won silver at the Beach Volleyball World Championships in 2013. Sude had primarily partnered with Chantal Labouruer during her career. . Sude and Borger have been teammates since 2019.
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“We are there to do our job, but we cannot wear our work clothes,” Borger told German radio. “It really is the only country and the only tournament where a government tells us how to do our job – we criticize that.”
Borger added that given the extreme temperatures in the Middle East, “we wonder if there is a need to have a tournament there.”
Julia Sude, left, and Karla Borger of Germany react in the women’s bronze medal match against Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson of Canada on day five of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour in Tokyo , Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games test event, at Shiokaze Park on July 28, 2019, in Tokyo, Japan. (Kiyoshi Ota / Getty Images)
The women’s portion of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) world tour will travel to Doha, Qatar for the first time next month. The players were asked to wear long shirts and slacks for the event, according to The Guardian.
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The FIVB says the request was “out of respect for the culture and traditions of the host country,” according to The Guardian.
Borger and Sude both told Germany’s Der Spiegel they “won’t accept” Qatar’s rules. The country’s weather would make bikinis necessary to participate in the tournament.
Sude also pointed out that changes were not made when the country hosted the World Athletics Championships in 2019.
The Qatar Volleyball Association said athletes were allowed to wear their national uniform, according to Yahoo.
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“We would like to make it clear that we are not making any requests on what athletes should wear at the event,” the organization said.
The country has allowed female volleyball players to compete in bikinis as recently as the ANOC World Beach Games 2019 and the 2006 Asian Games, according to The Daily Mail.
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