Entries for 2016 AVC indoor competitions to be closed next few days

Bangkok, Thailand, January 14, 2016 - With a few days remaining before the close of the late entry on January 16, all six AVC indoor volleyball competitions due to be held this year have drawn a huge interest from the AVC’s affiliated member countries, resulting in cutting back on the number of participating teams to a maximum of 16 to meet the Confederation’s set criteria.


According to the 2016 competition calendar released recently by AVC, a total of six tournaments will be held this year. Chinese Taipei will start the 2016’s campaign with the 18th Asian Men’s U20 Championship from July 9 to 17. However, despite the fact that the late entry can be made on January 16, the number of participating teams in the Chinese Taipei meet has already surpassed a maximum of 16 to see a massive 21 teams in contention for the title.

However, at press time (11.35am Bangkok time), Sri Lanka have submitted their late entry, making 22 teams in total to compete in the Asian Men’s U20 Championship in Chinese Taipei.

To make sure only a maximum of 16 teams to contest each tournament, the teams ranked 1-10 from the previous championship and the host nation will first receive the AVC’s green light to take part in the biennial competition. Therefore, Iran, China, Korea, Bahrain, Japan, Qatar, Thailand, India, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia plus hosts Chinese Taipei are the first 11 qualified teams to be eligible for the tournament. The other 11 teams comprise Iraq and Kuwait from Western Zone, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka from Central Zone, Hong Kong, Macao and Mongolia from Eastern Zone, Myanmar from Southeastern Zone and Australia and New Zealand from Oceania Zone.

Only five teams from five Zones will join the 11-team cut. This resulted in only one team apiece from each zone needed to join the fray. Therefore, a qualification tournament is necessarily required for each zone to have only one team representing each zone, aside from the 11-team cut, in the 16-team championship in Chinese Taipei.

It’s likely that qualification tournaments will be held in the Western (two teams), Central (two), Eastern (three) and Oceania (two) Zones, but no need to have the qualification in Southeastern Zone as only Myanmar is the lone participating team. The AVC will announce further information on qualification tournaments in each zone ahead of the championship in Chinese Taipei.

Meanwhile, at the latest information on January 7, a number of 15 teams have already confirmed their participation in the 18th Asian Women’s U19 Championship in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand from July 23 to 31. However, till the late entry will be closed on January 16, the application remains possible.


In the 2016 Asian Men’s Club Championship in Myanmar between August 23 and 31, a number of 17 teams have so far submitted their entries, while a maximum of 16 teams are needed to compete in the meet. The teams ranked from 1st to 10th from the previous edition plus hosts Myanmar got the AVC’s nod to contest the championship, while additional five teams are required to join the cut.

Still, six teams from four zones have shown their interests to contest the Myanmar competition. Among them are Saudi Arabia and the UAE from Western Zone, Hong Kong from Eastern Zone, Indonesia and Malaysia from Southeastern Zone and Australia from Oceania Zone. Only one team will be dropped from the mentioned six participants, ensuring the tournament to have a maximum of 16 teams in contention for the crown. However, it has been ruled that if a cut of teams taking part in the tournament cannot be done through qualifications, the teams with better world rankings can be selected to join the 11-team cut, totalling 16 teams for each competition.

Thirteen teams have confirmed their participation in the 2016 Asian Women’s Club Championship in the Philippines between September 3 and 11. Interested teams wishing to submit their late entries can contact the Competition Department at the AVC Headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand via avc.bk@asianvolleyball.netwithin January 16.

In terms of the 5th AVC Cup for Women in Vietnam between September 12 and 18 and the 5th AVC Cup for Men in India from September 19 to 25, the entry has already been closed since the qualified eight teams apiece have already been confirmed in each tournament.