Iran’s volleyball ban : Empty promises, dangerous suspicions
After women were barred at Iran’s first World Tour Beach Volleyball tournament, the game’s world body is under scrutiny: Why do the women feel abandoned by the FIVB? And why is the federation not interested in finding out what happened?
“They said that women are free to enter — but they did not say that you are.” This is what women heard on the Iranian island of Kish when they tried to attend the first tournament of the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. And this is what, two weeks after the tournament started, is likely to keep the FIVB, the International Volleyball Federation, and the International Olympic Committee busy for some time. Thomas Bach, the IOC’s president, said last week, there were “conflicting reports” emanating from the Kish Island Open. Bach, speaking at the Youth Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, said, he wanted to find out what happened to women in Kish, together with the FIVB.
