Mr. Nguyen Hong Minh: "This is a legal battle of Vietnamese volleyball"

Late on the night of August 12, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) decided to eliminate the Vietnamese women's U21 team from the quarter-finals of the U21 Women's Volleyball World Cup, currently taking place in Indonesia.

FIVB annulled the results of four matches of the Vietnam U21 women's volleyball team in the group stage. These were matches that featured two athletes suspected by FIVB. After the results of these four matches were annulled, the Vietnam U21 women's volleyball team fell from second place in the group to the round of 16, to the bottom of the group, eliminated from the knockout round.

This morning (August 13), Dan Tri reporter spoke with sports expert Nguyen Hong Minh, former Director of the Department of High Performance Sports (under the Department of Sports and Physical Training), former Head of the Vietnamese sports delegation at major events such as Asiad and SEA Games, to find out his opinion on this issue.

The Vietnam U21 women's volleyball team was unexpectedly eliminated from the 2025 U21 Women's World Cup (Photo: FIVB).

Need to clarify the reason for being punished

What do you think about FIVB's initial ruling on the Vietnam U21 women's volleyball team?

- Up to now, I still do not know how FIVB is preparing to punish Vietnamese volleyball? The reason is from the Vietnam Volleyball Federation (VFV), we have not officially informed FIVB about what suspicions the athletes of the Vietnam U21 team are classified as.

Typically, in a high-level sports tournament, world or international federations will sanction a competing team for one or more of the following three reasons: One is because the athlete is involved in doping (stimulants, banned substances), two is because of age fraud, and the third reason is because of gender ambiguity.

Currently, I have only heard that two athletes of the Vietnam U21 women's team are being suspected, but VFV has not yet officially informed about which of the three reasons mentioned above they are being suspected of.

The results of 4/5 matches of the Vietnam U21 women's team in the group stage were canceled (Photo: FIVB).

Can you elaborate on each case, whether blood and urine tests would clarify the suspicions?

- First, let me give an example of a case of suspected overage, for example, our athletes are suspected of being over 21 years old but still competing in the U21 World Cup. This requires tracing back to the original documents. This is a very time-consuming step and if it involves documents, we must do it carefully before participating in the tournament to avoid problems.

Of course, the current domestic playground has some characteristics that make it difficult to determine the age of athletes, and additional documents can be added after an incident. However, that is because we sympathize with each other, but international law does not say "sympathy".

Therefore, if it is a matter related to documents, we must grasp the original documents from the beginning, before participating in international competitions, especially large-scale international competitions.

What about the other reasons, sir?

- In cases of suspected doping or gender ineligibility, the Organizing Committee (OC) of international tournaments will usually investigate through blood and urine samples. When an athlete is suspected of using doping, the BTC and international federations will analyze these samples to see if there are banned substances.

Also related to blood and urine samples, the organizers of international tournaments as well as international sports federations will test and evaluate the athlete's testosterone and hormones, whether they are at the so-called "masculine" level or not (for female athletes). That is the case in which the athlete's gender is suspected.

After the initial results of the investigation, they will make an initial judgment. And from the initial results and initial judgment, they will have further investigation steps, further judgments.

Waiting for appeal result

So is it correct for FIVB to temporarily not recognize the results of the Vietnam U21 women's volleyball team up to now?

- Every playground and every tournament has rules and regulations. If a team shows signs of violating the rules or breaking the rules of the game, that team will be punished. These regulations are to ensure objectivity and fair-play for sports tournaments around the world.

Vietnam volleyball team is appealing (Photo: FIVB).

If the Organizing Committee of the 2025 Women's U21 Volleyball World Championship finds that a team has signs of violating the rules and regulations of this tournament, they will temporarily erase all results of the suspected team that took place in the tournament. Any match with the involved athlete participating will be more likely to have its results canceled.

This is a general rule, any team that falls into this situation will be punished. The Vietnam U21 women's team is being punished according to this framework. And also according to the practice of international tournaments, the relevant teams have the right to appeal within the allowed time. VFV is also appealing according to this rule.

So how do you evaluate the possibility of VFV's success in appealing the FIVB's penalty? Can we bring the Vietnam U21 women's volleyball team back to the knockout round?

- As I said, because VFV has not clearly stated what aspect FIVB is suspecting us in regarding the two athletes who were taken for sudden blood and urine samples, regarding age, doping or gender, it is very difficult to make an assessment of VFV's chances of a successful appeal.

Just know that, in case we can still appeal, we cannot give up. If we have clear and complete legal evidence in hand, we must definitely appeal to the end.

The FIVB also has its legal basis for its decision, so this will be a legal battle between the two sides. The side with the stronger legal basis will have the upper hand in this controversial matter.

Thank you for the conversation!

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/ong-nguyen-hong-minh-day-la-cuoc-dau-phap-ly-cua-bong-chuyen-viet-nam-20250813125152420.htm