Germany's Karla Borger refuses to play in pants in the sweltering heat of Qatar.
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Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP
German beach volleyball stars Karla Borger and Julia Sude have announced that they will boycott a tournament in Qatar due to the bikini ban on the pitch.
"We are there to do our work but we are prevented from wearing our work clothes", justified Karla Borger Sunday evening on the airwaves of German public radio Deutschlandfunk.
“This is truly the only country and the only tournament where a government tells us how to do our job.
We criticize that, ”added the sportswoman, vice-world champion.
Qatar is the host country for an International Beach Volleyball Federation (FIVB) tournament 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".
Untenable temperatures in Qatar
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 pointed out that Qatar had made exceptions for female athletes at the World Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019. On Deutschlandfunk, Karla Borger questioned the relevance of appointing Qatar as the host country of such competition.
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