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This is not the first time that the Serbian volleyball federation has been forced to apologize after the broadcast of images showing racist acts committed mid-match.
Serbian player Sanja Djurdevic drew two fingers to the side of her face to make the slanting eye gesture.
It happened after a Thai player failed to score a point in his match in Italy.
The incident saw the Volleyball Federation of Serbia issue a bizarre press release apologizing.
We are deeply saddened by the recent events of the Serbia vs Thailand #VNL match in Rimini and by the unfortunate gesture of our player Sanja Djurdjevic, the statement said.
We sincerely apologize to the Thai team, the Thai people and all of you affected by this.
But, please don’t make it out of proportion! Sanja is aware of her mistake and she immediately apologized to the entire Thai team. She only wanted to show her teammates that she was starting to play defense like them now, she didn’t want to be disrespectful. Of course, it was unfortunate.
It all ended with a simple misunderstanding, in a friendly atmosphere between the players of the two teams.
The Serbian volleyball team poses with their eyes drawn after winning the European Championships in 2017 which placed them in the World Championships in Japan. Photo: FIVB Source: Supplied
Thai player Pleumjit Thinkaow, who made the mistake that led to Djurdevic’s move, posted a video with Djurdevic and said she accepted the Serbs’ apologies.
Everyone. [Djurdevic] walked to our room. She said she was so stressed. She said she had no intention [to offend us]. Please forgive him, Pleumjit wrote in Thai.
The insensitive incident comes four years after the entire Serbian volleyball team posed in a photo with the majority shooting their heads after learning of their qualification in Japan.
The photo was eventually shot by the FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
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