Consume news mindfully! Vietnamese media deny fake news claiming referee apologized to Vietnam for errors in the 2025 SEA Games gold medal match.
On 18 Dec 2025 GMT+7, a controversy arose over the deciding point in the 2025 SEA Games gold medal match. The referee ruled that a serve ace by "Beam" Pimpichaya Kokramy landed in bounds, awarding Thailand the point and the match immediately. However, Vietnamese fans viewed the call as borderline, uncertain whether the ball landed in or out, since most replay footage showed the court lengthwise. The Vietnamese team had no challenges left and had to accept the referee's decision.
That night, several Vietnamese online media outlets widely reported that the Vice President of the Volleyball Association of Thailand, along with five referees, had personally met and apologized to the Vietnamese coaching staff and players, admitting errors in officiating the final that directly affected the SEA Games gold medal. This fueled dissatisfaction among many sports fans, who derogatorily dubbed the SEA Games the "sorry games."
Recently, tuoitre.vn refuted this, stating that the Thai organizers did not apologize to the Vietnamese women's volleyball team. Multiple news outlets had misinterpreted and spread misinformation by conflating the Sports Authority of Thailand's apology to Vietnam regarding the incomplete map shown at the SEA Games opening ceremony and some organizational shortcomings, mistakenly applying it to the volleyball incident.
Regarding the disputed scoring moment by Pimpichaya Kokramy, it was confirmed 100% in. The Thai women's volleyball officials posted referee camera angles clearly showing the referee's decision was accurate.