The Norwegian women’s beach handball team is under fire for refusing to play in bikini bottoms while competing in a tournament in Bulgaria.
Instead, the team wore thigh-length elastic shorts during their bronze medal match against Spain in the Euro 2021 tournament on Sunday as a form of protest against the regulation bikini-bottom design that the sport’s Norwegian federation president said was “embarrassing.”
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In return, the team got fined 1,500 euros, which is about $1,700, for “improper clothing,” according to a statement from the European Handball Association’s Disciplinary Commission.
The International Handball Federation regulations state that male players are allowed to play in tank tops and shorts while female players must wear bikini bottoms “with a close fit on an upward angle.”
“It’s not [appropriate clothing for] the activity when they are playing in the sand,” Norwegian Handball Federation President Kåre Geir Lio told NBC News in a phone interview.