Dang Thi Hong (left) played for Ngan Hang Cong Thuong during the first stage of the 2025 National Women's Volleyball Championship in April. Photo: VFV

Dang Thi Hong (left) played for Ngan Hang Cong Thuong during the first stage of the 2025 National Women's Volleyball Championship in April. Photo: VFV

Dang Thi Hong began the 2025 season playing for Ngan Hang Cong Thuong on loan from her home team, Thai Nguyen. However, she will not be able to compete in the second stage of the national championship due to a ban imposed by the FIVB stemming from the U21 World Championship.

The FIVB determined Hong was ineligible to compete but did not specify the reason. As a member federation of the FIVB, the Vietnam Volleyball Federation (VFV) is obligated to enforce the ban in all domestic competitions. Consequently, the 2006-born athlete is indefinitely suspended until further notice from the FIVB.

Once a promising athlete, Dang Thi Hong now faces a crossroads: retire from professional play and transition to a different role. "If the athlete is still passionate about volleyball, we are ready to support her training in another position, such as refereeing or statistics," VFV General Secretary Le Tri Truong told VnExpress. "Meanwhile, Thai Nguyen club has suggested a path in youth coaching."

The 19-year-old is also considering attending Bac Ninh University of Sports. Several organizations have expressed interest, through the VFV, in providing financial assistance to help Dang Thi Hong complete her studies.

In addition to these new options, Hong has proactively begun selling sports products on social media. Her TikTok channel, with over 13,000 followers, has shifted from personal moments to product promotion and fan interaction. Her live streams over the past three days have typically started at 10 p.m. and ended past midnight, sometimes as late as 2 a.m.

Promoting sports products through affiliate marketing is a growing trend among Vietnamese athletes seeking supplemental income. In this model, suppliers partner with influencers or prominent figures in a specific field to promote their products or services. In return, the influencer receives a commission for every customer action, such as a purchase, made through their referral link.

Dang Thi Hong (center) poses with her parents after receiving the Best Attacker award at the 2024 National U23 Volleyball Championship in her hometown of Bac Kan in 9/2024. Photo: Facebook/Dang Hong

Dang Thi Hong (center) poses with her parents after receiving the Best Attacker award at the 2024 National U23 Volleyball Championship in her hometown of Bac Kan in 9/2024. Photo: Facebook/Dang Hong

Dang Hong, born in 2006, is of Dao ethnicity and hails from the mountainous Pac Nam district of Bac Kan province. Despite her family having no background in sports, she displayed an early aptitude for volleyball. After completing 9th grade, Hong enrolled at the Thai Nguyen Provincial Sports Training and Competition Center.

While not exceptionally tall, Hong compensates with a high jump, powerful spikes, and agile movement. This "diamond in the rough" caught the attention of several major teams. In 2022, she played for Kinh Bac Bac Ninh on loan. In 2024, she moved to Ninh Binh and joined the Vietnam U20 national team. At the U20 Asian Championship that year, Hong played a key role in Vietnam's 5th-place finish, securing their first-ever berth in the 2025 U21 World Championship.

At the tournament in Indonesia, Hong continued her impressive performance, scoring 83 points (the most in the tournament at the time) across four group stage matches. However, on 8/12, her 19th birthday, she was banned from competition by the FIVB. Vietnam was subsequently forced to forfeit the four matches in which Hong had played, resulting in 0-3 losses and eliminating them from the round of 16.

The Indonesian organizers used SRY gene testing to determine XX-XY chromosomes, a method approved by the FIVB.

In subsequent statements, the FIVB did not explicitly state that Hong is male but concluded she was ineligible to compete and that her documentation was inconsistent. This ambiguity makes it difficult to determine whether Hong can return to competition.

If the issue is solely documentation, she could potentially return after the ban, provided her records are corrected and consistent. This is the most manageable scenario, as several international athletes have faced temporary bans due to procedural issues but later returned to competition.

Conversely, if the FIVB considers this a matter of gender, the situation becomes more complex. Under the new regulations issued by the FIVB in 2023, an athlete's gender is not determined solely by documentation but can be subject to review and medical examination if a formal complaint, supported by evidence, is filed by another federation. In this case, even after the ban is lifted, Dang Thi Hong would be unable to compete in official FIVB tournaments unless the rules change.

The VFV disagrees with the world federation's handling of the testing methods and gender standards. However, as a member federation, they must abide by the FIVB's rules. The VFV has requested clearer guidelines from the FIVB, rather than the impositions seen at the U21 World Championship. "These standards should be agreed upon before the tournament, even with ongoing scientific debate about their accuracy. But if an athlete doesn't meet them, they can't compete," said General Secretary Le Tri Truong. "We are discussing this issue. The FIVB needs to specify the testing methods, accredited testing locations, and acceptable thresholds. They can't use SRY testing one year and a different method the next."

This experience has forced Vietnamese volleyball to adapt to prevent similar incidents. On 9/11, the VFV executive board met and agreed to include gender testing in the regulations for domestic competitions in 2026. According to the VFV General Secretary, gender testing may be implemented sooner for the Vietnam women's national team, as it is already a requirement for the 33rd SEA Games in December. Athletes like opposite hitter Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen would also need to complete this procedure to participate in tournaments.

Hieu Luong