Russia bans women's volleyball coach for two matches over slant-eyed gesture after South Korea victory

Russia has banned its women's volleyball head coach Sergio Busato for two matches after he made a slant-eyed racist gesture at the end of a match against South Korea earlier this month in an Olympic qualifying tournament.

He could, however, still face further action from the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), who are reviewing the incident which took place following Russia's 3-2 victory in Kaliningrad on August 4.

The win in the Women's Volleyball Intercontinental Olympic Qualification Tournament secured Russia a place at Tokyo 2020.

The Korea Volleyball Association (KVA) made a formal complaint to the FIVB about the racist gesture.

The Volleyball Federation of Russia (RVF) subsequently apologised to the KVA.

The RVF hope that by suspending the 53-year-old Italian-born Busato it will ensure the FIVB take no further action, although their move may yet prove to be unsuccessful.

"The FIVB can confirm it has opened disciplinary proceedings against Mr Sergio Busato, but at this time no decision has been made," an FIVB spokeswoman told insidethegames.

"Until a final decision has been reached, there will be no further comment."

A week after the incident involving Busato, Argentina's men's volleyball team were also accused of "inappropriate and culturally insensitive" behaviour after several players made slant-eyed gestures following their victory over China at the Men's FIVB Olympic qualification tournament in Ningbo which earned them a place at Tokyo 2020.

In June, Poland's Michal Kubiak was suspended for six matches by the FIVB after making a series of controversial statements about Iran before the two countries played each other in the FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League.

Among his comments, he claimed Iranians were "malicious and damned people".