Norway’s beach handball team fined for not wearing Bikini bottoms in European Championship

The
Norwegian women’s beach handball team has been fined for wearing shorts at the
European Championship instead of the standard bikini bottoms, the European
Handball Federation (EHF) announced on Monday.

According
to the EHF statement on the issue, the Norwegian team violated the Athlete
Uniform Regulations in the European Championship bronze medal game against
Spain on Sunday.

The women’s
uniform regulations for the tournament, which took place in Varna, Bulgaria,
from July 13-18, state that all the players must comply with clothing
specifications as defined in the International Handball Federation Beach
Handball Rules of the Game, the Insider reported.

 “The Disciplinary Commission
decided to impose a fine of €150 ($177) per player, for a total of €1,500
($1,770),” the statement said.

The women
have to wear a bikini with a tight-fitting sports bra and a bikini bottom less
than 10 centimeters from the sides. For men, the standard uniform is a
tight-fitting tank top and shorts that are 10 centimeters above the kneecap.

In an
interview with NPK, Norwegian player Katinka Haltvik said that the players felt
“felt threatened by the regulations.” She hopes the statement paved
the way for more teams to come forward against the dress code.

The coach of the French national team Valérie Nicolas has come out publicly to support the stance of the Norwegian players saying that the response from the EHF was “unfair”.

The
President of the Norwegian Handball Federation Kare Geir Lio  said that the concerns of the players are not
new and that they have been campaigning for changes to the regulations for
“several years,” the Herald Sun reported

“We
have contacted them and worked for this for several years. We have raised it at
the Congress and we have been promised that this will be sorted out. Still,
nothing happens,” he said to NPK.