The Chinese Volleyball Association has apologised after several players were forced to wear N95 masks during their Asia Cup match against Iran.
Players wore the masks during the first set of their match, which they lost, before removing them ahead of the second set and going on to beat Iran 3-1. The incident caused outrage on social media in the country, with users saying China's zero- Covid strategy was going "too far".
"Our leaders are... taking things too far - it's as simple as that," wrote one user. "Is health more important, or performance?" questioned another social media user. "If you want to focus on results, then don't do this kind of thing. Ordinary people can't breathe well when wearing a mask and climbing stairs.
"Do you wear a mask in this fierce competition? Want to suffocate people? Who came up with this bad idea, what is it?"
A third user wrote: "Letting the players wear N95 masks in competitions is extremely irresponsible to the national-level athletes. For the sake of politics … The team leader and coach of the women's volleyball team, are they not human?"
Following the fury among the country's social media users, the Chinese Volleyball Association were quick to issue an apology and explanation.
In a statement on their Weibo page, the governing body explained that team organisers had learnt of Covid-infected players among other sides prior to the match as well as revealing some symptoms had been reported among members of the Chinese team.
The statement added: "Since the organising committee did not have clear regulations on whether athletes should wear masks during the match, our athletes wore masks after the start of the match to protect themselves.
"Due to our lack of experience on the field, we did not remind the players to take off their masks in time.
"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."
