China's women volleyballers don N95 masks during Iran tie, severely criticised on Chinese social media

China's women's national volleyball team have made heads turn after they were spotted wearing N95 masks during their face-off versus Iranat the Asian Cup in the Philippines, on Thursday (August 25). The move has been slammed by the Chinese on their social media platforms and many have stated that the players' health is being compromised due to the country's zero-Covid strategy.

After the backlash received online, China's Volleyball Association later apologised and revealed that the decision was made due to a "lack of experience". However, there have been severe reactions from the Chinese following the women's team's Iran face-off. The images from the encounter went viral online in no time with an excess of 16 million views on the topic on Weibo, which is China's largest social media platform.

Here are some of the reactions

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"Our leaders are... taking things too far - it's as simple as that," one user wrote. Another Weibo comment said: "Is health or performance more important? We need to take some responsibility towards our athletes." Meanwhile, a user also pointed out, "How long will this so-called epidemic prevention farce continue? Do we want to become the butt of all other countries' jokes?"

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The fury led to the Chinese Volleyball Association issuinga public apology. In a statement on Weibo, it revealed that theteam organisers prior to the game were made aware of Covid-infected players in the other teams. Moreover, they were informed thatsaid some symptoms had been reported in the Chinese team as well. As a precautionary measure, the Chinese women's team was asked to wear masks upon entering the venue. Due to a lack of clarity on whether players have to don the N95 masks on the court, they wore them during the first half, the Association further asserted.

Post the opening set, most players got rid of their masks to later emerge on top of Iran to storm into the quarter-finals. "After realising that playing with a mask is not good for the health of the players, the team reminded us in time [so] that our players took off the masks and finished the next game," the organisers told.

Talking about the match, China came from behind to beat Iran in a four-set encounter, winning24-26, 25-19, 25-10, 25-13. With this win, China top their Pool A with a 4-0 record enroute to the quarter-finals, where they will face Australia on Saturday (August 27).