GENEVA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) said it is looking into Thailand's women's volleyball team's participation in the Volleyball Nations League following reported COVID-19 cases.

"The FIVB is aware that the Thailand women's national volleyball team has had some COVID-19 cases ahead of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2021. The FIVB, Thailand Volleyball Association and Thailand authorities are investigating the matter further," the FIVB said in a statement.

"In the meantime, the FIVB has provided Thailand with a special exemption on the publication of its roster to allow the Thailand Volleyball Association time to establish the best and safest way of ensuring that Thailand can compete in this prestigious global event. The FIVB will provide further details in due course and make no further comment on the matter until then."

"As always, the FIVB's primary concern is protecting the health and wellbeing of our athletes, officials and staff and there will be no compromise in this regard," it added.

The Thailand Volleyball Association announced on Wednesday that more than 20 team members of its national women's volleyball team tested positive for COVID-19, which would probably force the team to withdraw from the VNL competitions in Italy.

Swabs were reportedly taken from 37 athletes, coaches and other team members on Tuesday after four trainers were found to be infected on Monday. Test results came out Wednesday morning to show 22 of them were infected.

The northern city of Rimini will host the women's and men's Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2021 in a secure bubble.

16 teams per gender will compete in a round-robin format between May 25 and June 20 for the women's event and May 28 to June 23 for the men's event, with the top four teams to advance to the finals. Enditem

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