adminNEW YORK. — Two US women football stars have rushed to defend an eight-year-old girl whose team was disqualified after she was accused of looking like a boy.Short-haired Milagros “Mili” Hernandez has been praised on social media by Olympians Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach. Mili’s club team was booted from Sunday’s final tournament in Omaha, Nebraska, even after her father showed identity documents proving her gender.
Tournament officials cite an error on team forms for the disqualification. Their attention was drawn to the issue because someone on a rival team complained, based on her appearance.
Officials then checked the forms and contacted the Azzurri Soccer club, where Mili plays for the Achurros team, to say she was listed as a boy. Before her team could take the field, they were summarily disqualified.
Her father, Gerardo Hernandez, had brought her insurance card and other documentation to Sunday’s game, but said that tournament officials were not interested in speaking to him. “They told us the thing was decided,” he told the Washington Post, adding that “that wasn’t the right way to treat people”.
“Just because I look like a boy doesn’t mean I am a boy. They don’t have a reason to kick the whole club out,” Mili told local station WOWT-TV. — BBC Sport.
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