Albania suspends Brazilian volleyball player after gender complaints

TIRANA :The Albanian Volleyball Federation has suspended a female player from one of the country's top clubs after rival teams raised doubts about her gender without providing evidence, according to interviews with the player, her club and documents seen by Reuters.

Brazilian Nayara Ferreira, 32, plays for Dinamo, currently second in the Albanian women’s volleyball league, but has missed several games since October after the federation said she must take a gender test at a specific laboratory to prove she was a woman.

"The world collapsed around me," Ferreira said in an interview in her apartment on the outskirts of Tirana. "No one had ever questioned my gender before. Why are they doing this only to me?"

COMPLAINTS FROM RIVAL CLUBS

The suspension came after complaints from two rival clubs, Vllaznia and Pogradeci, alleging that she might be male or was using hormone therapy to enhance her performance.

Neither the federation nor the clubs have publicly provided evidence to back up these claims, which Ferreira and her club say are baseless. An official at Pogradeci declined to comment. Vllaznia could not be reached for comment.

The Albanian Volleyball Federation did not respond to repeated requests for comment. In a letter, seen by Reuters, sent to the club on October 6, it said it planned to carry out tests "to verify the player’s natural physical performance and determine her gender".

On October 13, the federation said she should appear at a laboratory for a test two days later. Ferreira refused to appear and was suspended. She said that she has voluntarily done a test at another clinic to privately prove her gender to her club, the results of which are expected in the coming days.

The International Volleyball Federation, which