The club of volleyball Lokomotiv, from Kaliningrad, apologized this Friday to the Cuban Ailama Cesé, player of Uralochka-NTMK, from Yekaterinburg, for the offense of her coach Andrei Voronkov, during the final of the championship of Russia.
“The Lokomotiv volleyball club sincerely apologizes for the incident that occurred in the fifth match of the Super League final series, in which our team faced Uralochka-NTMK,” he said on his page on the VK social network, according to with a report from the agency Latin Press (PL).
The statement also pointed out that the coach’s phrase was not intended to offend or humiliate anyone on or off the court, the media reports, adding that the general director of Uralochka, Valentina Oguienko, expressed that her team expected a personal apology. from Voronkov and not from Lokomotiv.
Russia : Andrei Voronkov, entraîneur du Lokomotiv Kaliningrad Region, qualified Ailama Cese Montalvo, a Cuban volleyball player who evolved in the team of Uralochka-NTMK (Ekaterinburg), from “singe”, during a temps-mort au 3ème matche of the finale of the 1ère league féminine. pic.twitter.com/9DERm14fsM
— Rebecca Rambar (@RebeccaRambar) May 13, 2022
According to public demonstrations of rejection of the fact on social networks, where the video with Voronkov’s words was published, the attitude and words of the Lokomotiv coach were clearly offensive, the publication notes.
The report recalls that on May 12, during a time-out in the decisive match of the final series of the Russian championship against Uralochka, Voronkov admonished a player from his team, to whom he said: “Why not will you block that monkey again?”
The moment was captured by cameras and the video quickly spread through social networks, accompanied by strong criticism of the coach and comments rejecting the fact and racism in general.
For its part, Uralochka, considering that the offense had been directed against the Cuban Cesé, demanded that the Lokomotiv technical director apologize.
Cuban volleyball player Ailama Cesé: “I like my color and I am proud to wear it on my skin”
Latin Press points out that, according to the Russian Volleyball Federation, its disciplinary commission requested that Voronkov be disqualified for up to two years and also confirmed that the coach refused to apologize to the Cuban and admit his guilt.
Ailama Cesé, who arrived in Russia in 2019 and whose contract expires in the summer, assured after the game that the insult had not affected him at all, although he criticized the rival coach’s lack of professional ethics.
“I know who I am, I like my color and I am proud to wear it on my skin. I’m not ashamed of it. I like people for what they have in their hearts and for what they are capable of transmitting in everything they do, not because of their skin color, nationality or whatever,” he wrote to his followers on the Internet, a position which has been applauded by many.
