The women's volleyball team of China defeated Iran Thursday during an international tournament, which is not in itself a surprise. The unusual reason the match is making headlines? The Chinese team played the first set while wearing N95 masks, which set off a brouhaha on Chinese social media when the powerful team lost the set, reports the South China Morning Post. The Chinese women ditched the masks after that and took the next three sets to advance in the Asian Cup tournament, being played in the Philippines.
On China's popular social media platform Weibo, user after user ridiculed the use of masks during such an intense athletic competition. "Our leaders are ... taking things too far—it's as simple as that," wrote one user in a typical comment, referring to China's strict zero-COVID policies, per the BBC. "How long will this so-called epidemic prevention farce continue?" wrote another. "Do we want to become the butt of all other countries' jokes?" The volume of criticism was unusual, per the BBC, and it prompted a public apology from the Chinese Volleyball Association.
The group said the team required its players to mask up upon entering the venue, and the players kept them on when the match started, apparently because the instructions were unclear. "We did not remind the athletes on the field to remove their masks in time due to our lack of on-spot experience,” said the statement, per NBC News. “We realized wearing masks was bad for athletes’ health in the second half of the first set, and the team promptly reminded the players to take off their masks and finish the rest of the game." NBC notes that properly worn masks shouldn't cause any oxygen problems, according to CDC guidance. (More China stories.)
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