Asian volleyball club tournament drawing of lots slated Wednesday Read more: http://sports.inquirer.net/211477/asian-volleyball-club-tournament-drawing-lots-slated-wednesday#ixzz46pdxsf00 Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

THE ASIAN Volleyball Confederation Women’s Club Championships, which the country will be hosting, will hold its drawing of lots this Wednesday at Foton Showroom in Quezon City.

With the Philippine team composed of players from Foton and other Philippine Superliga teams, PSL officials said they are working to form the “strongest team possible” for the Sept. 3 to 11 event.

Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. (LVPI) tasked the PSL to organize and put up the squad in the prestigious meet where the finest players in the region gather, carrying their respective clubs.

The Philippines is hoping to get a favorable draw against teams from Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, China, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Iran, Turkmekistan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia.

PSL president Ramon “Tats” Suzara will help conduct the draw. He will be assisted by AVC technical delegate Jaksuwan Tocharoen of Thailand.

Three former PSL imports are being eyed to beef up the squad—Kristy Jaeckel, Ariel Usher and Lindsay Stalzer. Only two reinforcements are allowed per team.

The country has never gone past seventh place in the top-tier tournament since taking part in 2006 when Accel represented the Philippines.

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is back in China

CURTAINS READY TO BE RAISED FOR SMM AVC #BeachVolleyball Tour Satun Pakbara-Est Cola Open between April 9 and 11.

TEAMS CONFIRMED FOR WORLD OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION TOURNAMENT IN JAPAN

Lausanne, Switzerland, January 15, 2016 - The line-up of teams qualified for the Men's and Women's World Olympic and Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament at the Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan has been confirmed. A draw will be held in March.

The eight-team women's competition will take place from May 14 to 22. Japan will be joined by Korea (World Rank 9), Thailand (WR 13), Kazakhstan (WR 26) - the top three Asian teams in the FIVB World Ranking, the Netherlands (WR 14) and Italy (WR 8), respectively second and third at the European Olympic Qualification Tournament, Peru, who were second at the South American Olympic Qualification Tournament, and the Dominican Republic, second at the NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament.

The eight-team men's competition will take place from May 28 to June 5. Hosts Japan will be joined by Iran (World Rank 8), Australia (WR 13), China (WR 19) - the top three Asian teams in the FIVB World Ranking, France (WR 10) and Poland (WR 2) - who were respectively second and third at the European Olympic Qualification Tournament, Venezuela (WR 20), who were second at the South American Olympic Qualification Tournament, and Canada, second at the NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament.

In each gender, the top three ranked teams plus the best ranked Asian team will qualify for the Olympics. If an Asian team is ranked among the top three, then the next ranked team will be qualified.

The final vacancy per gender for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be decided at a second World Olympic Qualification Tournament due to be held in the period from May 14 to June 5, 2016. The third placed team from the South American Olympic Qualification Tournament, the third placed team from the NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament and the second and third placed teams from the African Olympic Qualification Tournament will compete for the last berth.

SQUADS NOW AVAILABLE FOR WOMEN'S WOQT IN JAPAN

Lausanne, Switzerland, April 6, 2016 - The squad lists for the eight teams participating in the Women's World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan are now available on fivb.com.

Women's World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan - Teams

In accordance with the Specific Competition Regulations, the squads will be reduced to 12 to 14 players and confirmed at the Preliminary Inquiry, which will take place two days before the start of the tournament.

The World Olympic Qualification Tournament websites will be updated with the latest news and already include information on the formula and qualification process for each event. Fans can also get information on the host cities, while social media is expected to have a strong presence as the websites continue to develop in the build-up to the tournaments in May and June.

The Women's World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan will be played by hosts Japan, Korea, Thailand, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Italy, Peru and the Dominican Republic from May 14 to 22. It will overlap with the Women's World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Puerto Rico from May 20 to 22, featuring hosts Puerto Rico, Colombia, Algeria and Kenya.

The teams qualified for the Men's World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan are Japan, Australia, China, Iran, France, Poland, Venezuela and Canada. The tournament is scheduled to take place from May 28 to June 5. The Men's World Olympic Qualfication Tournament in Mexico from June 3-5 will be played by Chile, Mexico, Algeria and Tunisia. 

WOQT MEN'S DRAW MAPS OUT ROAD TO RIO

Tokyo, Japan, March 11, 2016 - Fans can look forward to an exciting tournament after the World Olympic Qualification Tournament draw in Tokyo this morning mapped out the road to Rio for each of the eight teams per gender competing to qualify for the 2016 Olympics.

Korea and Italy will open the Women's World Olympic Qualification Tournament, which will take place from May 14 to 22. The men's event will begin with a match between Iran and Australia on May 28.

Draw results:





The World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan also doubles as the qualification tournament for Asian teams. The women’s event from May 14 to 22 will be played by the hosts (Japan), the top three ranked teams in Asia (Korea, Thailand and Kazakhstan), the second and third placed teams from the European Olympic Qualification Tournament (Netherlands and Italy), the second placed team from the South American Olympic Qualification Tournament (Peru) and the second placed team from the NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament (Dominican Republic).

The men’s tournament, which includes the hosts (Japan), the top three ranked teams in Asia (Australia, China and Iran), the second and third placed teams from the European Olympic Qualification Tournament (France and Poland), the second placed team from the South American Olympic Qualification Tournament (Venezuela) and the second placed team from the NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament (Canada) will take place from May 28 to June 5.

In each gender, the best ranked Asian team plus the top three ranked teams will qualify for the Olympics. If an Asian team is ranked among the top three, then the next ranked team will be qualified.

The World Olympic Qualification Tournaments in Japan will decide which four teams join the seven teams per gender which have already qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. 

The teams already qualified for the women’s volleyball tournament at this year’s Olympics are: hosts Brazil, FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Cup winners China and runners-up Serbia, European Olympic Qualification Tournament winners Russia, NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament winners USA, South American Olympic Qualification Tournament winners Argentina and African Olympic Qualification Tournament winners Cameroon. 

A final berth will be decided in Puerto Rico from May 20-22 when Colombia, Algeria and Kenya will take on the local team in a second Women's World Olympic Qualification Tournament.

The teams already qualified for the men’s event are: hosts Brazil, 2015 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup winners USA and runners-up Italy, South American Olympic Qualification Tournament winners Argentina, European Olympic Qualification Tournament winners Russia, NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament winners Cuba and African Olympic Qualification Tournament winners Egypt. 

A final vacancy is decided at a second Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament to be held in Mexico City from June 4 to 6, which will see hosts Mexico take on Chile, Algeria and Tunisia.

Ticketing
Tickets for the tournaments in Japan will go on sale on March 12. They will be available from the following outlets: 

Lawson Ticket
http://l-tike.com/oqt-e/

viagogo
Women’s event
http://www.viagogo.jp/Sports-Tickets/Volleyball/Volleyball-Olympic-Qualification-Women-Tickets?pcid=PARTJPSPRTJPVABD05247E1E

Men’s event
http://www.viagogo.jp/Sports-Tickets/Volleyball/Volleyball-Olympic-Qualification-Men-Tickets?pcid=PARTJPSPRTJPVABD05247E1E

Categories and prices:
Arena Reserved: JPY10,000
Tiered Reserved Seating: JPY6,800
Stand General Admission: JPY3,000
Stand General Admission (Under 15): JPY1,000
Tiered Reserved Seating (excluding matches played by Japan): JPY4,000

Click here for more information about the Olympic qualification process. 

The women's tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will take place from August 6 to 20, while the men will play from August 7 to 21. In each gender, the 12 teams will be split into two pools of six. The pools will be played in a round-robin format and the top four teams in each pool will progress to the quarterfinals. Draws will be held for the quarterfinal and semifinal pairings.

The Asian Beach Volleyball Championship at ‪#‎ManlyBeach‬, ‪#‎Sydney‬ kick off at 08.00 AEDT with ‪#‎KishOpen‬ Champs Jefferson/Cherif ‪#‎Qatar‬ begin their journey at ‪#‎ABVC‬ against ‪#‎NewZealand‬ couple O'de/Lochead.

Since the #QatarOpen will begin soon, here's the list of entries by Country under AVC

Beach spikers to revive fortunes in AVC Beach Tour 17th Samila Open in Songkhla

Songkhla, Thailand, April 12. 2016 – Australians Isaac Kapa/Chris McHugh, fresh from winning the Pak Bara Open in Satun a couple days ago, are expected to shine again as they have been awarded the men’s top seeds as the “SMM” AVC Beach Tour Est Cola 17th Samila Open will kick off at the Samila Beach in Songkhla on April 14.

A total of 27 men’s teams from 15 countries comprising Australia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Oman, the Philippines, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Iran, China, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Qatar have been divided into eight pools from Pool A to Pool H, with Pool A-Pool E featuring three teams apiece and Pool F-Pool H having four teams each to contest the pool round-robin preliminaries. Only top two teams from each pool will advance to the next round.

The women’s event features 19 teams from 10 nations including Australia, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia and hosts Thailand. All participating teams have been split into four pools from PoolA to Pool D. Four teams have been drawn in Pool A, with Pool B, Pool C and Pool D fielding five teams apiece.

Powerful Aussies Kapa.McHugh, who will start the three-day competition in Songkhla as hot-favourites for the title as they performed brilliantly to win two titles in a row consisting of the Asian Championships from March 25 to 28 on home soil and the Asian Tour in Satun, Thailand between April 9 and 11. The Asian crown achieved in front of their supporters at Manly Beach in Sydney was the Kapa/McHugh’s third in history as they have already won it in 2012, 2014 and 2016.

Top seeds Kapa/McHugh, who started their partnership at the end of 2012 to win their first Asian crown in China, have been drawn in Pool A with Maldives 1 and Sri Lanka 1.

“We have Maldives and Sri Lanka in our pool. We have never played them before. Sri Lanka seem to be a very good team, so it is going to be interesting. However, it must be a relaxed match full of excitement and fun for us,” said Kapa.

Kazakh second seeds Alexandr Dyachenko/Alexey Sidorenko, who captured gold medals at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, Korea and silver medals at the recent Pak Bara Open in Satun, are in Pool B with Thailand 2’s Addison Khaolumtarn/Nuttanon Inkiew and Hong Kong.

New Zealand 1’s Samuel O’Dea/Michael Watson are third seeds to face Oman 2 and the Philippines in Pool C,  while Australia 2’s Joshua Court/Damien Schumann, New Zealand 2’s Tom Hartles/Ben O’Dea and Iran 1 are in Pool D.

Chinese Li Jian/Li Zhuoxin, Oman 1 and Maldives 2 are in Pool E, with Pool F featuring Japan 1, Indonesia 1, Vietnam 2 and Thailand 3. Kazakhstan 2, Qatar, Indonesia 2 and Sri Lanka 2 have been drawn in Pool G and Thailand 1’s Prathip Sukto/Banlue Nakprakhong, Japan 2, Vietnam 1 and Iran 2 are in Pool H.

In the women’s competition, Thailand 1’s Varapatsorn Radarong/Tanarattha Udomchavee, silver medallists at both the 2014 Incheon Asian Games and the Asian Beach Games in Phuket, Thailand the same year, have been drawn in Pool A with Australia 2’s Sarah Battaglene/Becchara Palmer, Japan 1’s Akiko Hasegawa/Ayumi Usano and Vietnam 2.

Kazakhstan 1’s Tatyana Mashkova/Irina Tsimbalova, gold medallists at the 2014 Asian Beach Games and silver medallists at the Pak Bara Open in Satun on Monday, are in Pool B with Hong Kong 2, Indonesia 2, Thailand 3 and Singapore 1.

Australia 1’s Mariafe Artacho Del Solar/Nicole Laird, the current world U23 champions, silver medallists at the last month’s Asian Championships at home and fresh from winning the Pak Bara Open in Satun on Monday, are in Pool C with Thailand 2, New Zealand, Vietnam 1 and Sri Lanka 2, with Pool D featuring Indonesia 1, Kazakhstan 2, Japan 2, Sri Lanka 1 and Singapore 2.

The team briefing and draws of lots ceremony took place on Tuesday, with Songkhla Deputy Governor Mr Anuchit Trakulmuthuta presiding. AVC Vice President and Secretary-General Mr Shanrit Wongprasert and Referee Delegate Mr Srinivasan Jayaraman jointly conducted the draws. All participating teams joined the meeting.

“I would like to welcome all participants to Songkhla during the Songkran Festival. I hope all of you will have a nice stay with us and have fun in the water splashing ceremony. If there is anything we can help, please don’t hesitate to let us know. We are very happy to serve all of you. Finally, I wish all of you a success in this tournament,” Anuchit said in his speech to all participating teams.

As the Songkran Festival falls on Wednesday, April 13, all participating teams will join the fun-packed water-splashing festival in Songkhla. The main draw will be held at the Samila Beach in Songkhla from April 14 to 16.

AVC COACHES COMMITTEE MEMBERS URGED TO WORK HARD

Bangkok, Thailand, March 8, 2016 – The AVC Coaches Committee Meeting was concluded on Tuesday at Dusit Princess Srinakarin Hotel in Bangkok, with new Committee Chairman Mr Park Ki-won encouraging all members to share their ideas and work hard in an effort of improving their working standard. 

Ahead of the meeting, FIVB and AVC Honorary Life President Mr Wei Jizhong and AVC Executive Vice President Mr Essa Hamzah jointly presided over the opening. AVC Secretary-General Mr Shanrit Wongprasert and AVC Headquarters General Manager Dr Rueangsak Siriphol were also in attendance as guests of honour.

Mr Wei Jizhong observed that most of the Coaches Committee members came from former national coaches including Mr G.E.Sridharan from India and Japanese Mr Gen Yawakita, and Ms Feng Kun, former China national player who was instrumental in lifting the team’s remarkable success to win the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Greece. All of them were from indoor volleyball, but none was from beach volleyball.

“As AVC badly wanted to focus more on beach volleyball, it, therefore, must be better if we can have some coaches from beach volleyball to work in the AVC Coaches Committee and FIVB as well. If possible, I would like the Committee to take care of not only indoor volleyball but also beach volleyball,” Mr Wei commented.

The Committee Chairman Park Ki-Won strongly suggested that all members devote themselves in learning and studying what has to be done if they have been nominated as Control Committee members for any AVC tournament.

“Members should be well-prepared to perform your duties as effectively as you can. To accomplish this task, you have to share your ideas to help improve working standard of the Coaches Committee’s activities and get familiar with the materials and working procedures required by AVC in 2016. You all must work much harder to improve our work in the Committee,” said Mr Park.

The key points discussed in the meeting also included report on the decisions of the 2015 AVC Board of Administration Meeting, reports of FIVB Coaches Commission in Lausanne, Switzerland early this year, reports on the AVC Technical Seminar held in 2015 and the 2016 activity plan.

DUE TO GLOBAL NATURE OF THE SPORT AVC REFEREES NEED TO IMPROVE THEIR ENGLISH PROFICIENCY

Bangkok, Thailand, March 7, 2016 – To improve the referees’ English proficiency has become a hot issue raised among topics discussed in the AVC Referee Committee Meeting at the Dusit Princess Srinakharin Hotel in Bangkok on Monday. 

AVC President Dr Saleh A. Bin Nasser, FIVB and AVC Honorary Life President Mr Wei Jizhong and AVC Executive Vice President Mr Essa Hamza jointly presided over the opening of the two-day meeting, while AVC Secretary-General Mr Shanrit Wongprasert and AVC Headquarters General Manager Dr Rueangsak Siriphol were also in attendance as the guests of honour.

Shortly after the opening speech by AVC President Dr Saleh A. Bin Nasser, FIVB and AVC Honorary Life President Mr Wei Jizhong came up with his personal point of view about the role of referees.

“Referee is not a judge, but people think they are judges in a court. Anyone can make mistakes, players can make mistakes, coach can make mistakes. So, why not the referees? Now with the challenge system, most of the mistakes occurred is the net problem. It depends upon the referee’s accumulated experience to make it right or wrong while he is officiating,’ Mr Wei commented.

Mr Essa Hamza said, “I realise the future role of the referees. I have two remarks. Firstly, I think we have many AVC referees who are still active, but they are low in the FIVB tournaments. The word “low” here does not mean low in quality, but it’s low in number. So, we have to study how to increase the number of AVC referees to officiate those FIVB competitions.

“Secondly, sometimes, a team compete in a tournament without their accompanying referee. We need to push all NFs in AVC to send their accompanying referees. So, we’ve asked the Referee Committee to nominate AVC referees for FIVB tournaments,” he added.

AVC Referee Committee chairman Songsak Chareonpong revealed that the Committee had already submitted AVC referees to work in FIVB tournaments, but the FIVB did not nominate them, claiming that their evaluation was far from impressive with low English proficiency.

Mr Essa Hamza has purposed that a budget will be allocated by AVC to help their referees upgrade their English skills, while the Referee Committee Meeting also purposed that all participating teams must have three accompanying referees for each AVC events and AVC will select the best one among the three referees. However, if they all fail in a test of English skills, it is likely that they will be banned from officiating any future AVC competitions.

Meanwhile, Mr Abdulakhaliq Isa Alsabah from Bahrain, one of the Referee Committee Members, has decided to work with another Committee Member Mr Thomas Chang from Hong Kong for sustainable development of AVC beach volleyball.

Among the key topics discussed in the Referee Committee on Monday included Member activities report, refereeing delegate report from 2015 AVC events, updates on new technologies, reports on FIVB/AVC Referee Courses/Seminar in 2015, Referee online course report, International and Continental Referees and Refereeing Courses to be held in 2016.

AVC MEDICAL COMMITTEE MEETING FOCUSES ON BEACH VOLLEYBALL DOPE TESTS

Bangkok, Thailand, March 6, 2016 – The AVC Medical Committee Meeting took place on Sunday at the Dusit Princess Srinakharin Hotel in Bangkok, with AVC Headquarters General Manger Dr Ruengsak Siriphol as one of the senior Members of the Committee raising the topic of more samples of dope tests to be conducted in future beach volleyball competitions. However, Dr Ruengsak admitted that the decision discussed in the meeting cannot take effective in time in the Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships, due to take place at the Manly Beach in Sydney, Australia from March 25 to 28.

AVC PRESS COMMITTEE MEMBERS SATISFIED WITH NEW-LOOK AVC WEBSITE DESIGN

Bangkok, Thailand, March 6, 2016 – AVC Press Committee members expressed in their historic meeting satisfaction over the eye-catching AVC website design, upbeat that the full coverage of tournaments with live matches across the region will help the popularity of the Asian volleyball soar to new heights.

A newly-formed AVC Press Committee, chaired by Mr Preechachan Wiriyanupappong, assembled at Dusit Princess Srinakharin Hotel in Bangkok for their first meeting, with AVC President Dr Saleh A. Bin Nasser, FIVB and AVC Honorary Life President Mr Wei Jizhong and AVC Executive Vice President Mr Essa Hamza jointly presiding over the opening of the meeting. Also in attendance as the guest of honour was AVC Secretary-General Mr Shanrit Wongprasert.

In his opening speech, AVC President Dr Saleh A. Bin Nasser said, “Volleyball in Asia is a lovely game, safe game, no problems, no contact and no violence compared with some other sports. AVC is the biggest Confederation with 65 country members. Without the media and the AVC Press Committee members, we cannot showcase the world our ability in volleyball. I think you know how important the media people are. They have to do good work much harder because we are competing for popularity with the other sports.”

Mr Wei Jizhong has asked the media people to switch from “journalists” to “editors” and have to think the way the editors do. Editors can edit stories and make decision to change. So, FIVB and AVC really need the people like editors, not journalists.

“You have to study the difference and relationship between traditional media and new media. I purpose you to study carefully between the two medias, provide information or stories when the press reports cannot get them by themselves. The media people should work with the new idea. At the same time. AVC website is attraction to promote our volleyball and the pages on the website should be renewed nearly everyday,” Mr Wei suggested.

Mr Essa Hamza also praised the new-look AVC website, saying that it has more high quality than the previous one. He added that there is a big difference between the old website and the new one. However, to upgrade the AVC website, the Press Committee members have been asked to offer kind cooperation to help keep the information on the website up-to-date.

Among the main topics discussed in the meeting, the Press Committee members suggested that to  promote the sport in social media platforms, the media people get involved with players and impressive activities or circumstances occasionally occurred. The organisers should also provide live matches in order that audience across the region can pay more attention to those tournaments. It will help promote volleyball among people from all walks of live.

Iranian Maryam Hessaby, one of the Press Committee members, viewed optimistically that a press delegate from Asia should be able to get involved in covering any FIVB tournament to be held in Asia, while Australian Ross Solly suggested that a good source of achieves be provided in the AVC website to alleviate difficulties in searching for old stories and information as well as competition photos from the past events.

Korean Bog Ja Jeoung said that it should be a good idea if the AVC website will provide a space for photo of Asian volleyball stars or heroes, while Chinese Wang Leon suggested that the press checklist be provided during the inspection to the venue ahead of the actual competition. This is to ensure the nominated press delegate the complete condition ideal for his work.

All Press Committee members have promised to try their best in providing AVC necessary information not only the competitions, but also stories from development programes, courses, seminars, Volleyball Your Way and volleyball activities for kids to help keep the AVC website updated aside from attracting more viewers to increasingly gain the popularity of Asian volleyball in the near future.

AVC Sports Events Council members meets to discuss all 2016 major events were officially confirmed to be held later this year.

Bangkok, Thailand, March 5, 2016 – AVC Sports Events Council members have been asked to provide their expertise to the organisers of the AVC tournaments to help run those top-notch competitions smoothly, as all 2016 major events were officially confirmed to be held later this year.

The AVC Sports Events Council and the AVC Development and Marketing Committee were the first two AVC Technical Committees which kicked off their annual meetings on Saturday at the Dust Princess Srinakharin Hotel, with the former led by the secretary-turned-chairman Dr Eom Han-Joo from Korea and the latter chaired by Mr Ramon Suzara from the Philippines.

The SEC Meeting will be held for two days between March 5 and 6, while the Development and Marketing Meeting was already concluded on March 5. The Medical Committee, the Press Committee and the SEC Meetings will next be held the following day. The Referees Committee Meeting is scheduled to take place onMarch 7 and 8, while the Coaches Committee and the Beach Volleyball Committee will hold their meetings onMarch 8. The last meeting in the Finance Committee is due to be held on April 16.

AVC President Dr Saleh A. Bin Nasser presided over the opening of the AVC Sports Events Council Meeting on Saturday, while FIVB and AVC Honorary Life President Mr Wei Jizhong and AVC First Executive Vice-President Mr Essa Hamza were the guests of honours.

“I’m very happy to be here for the AVC Sports Events Council Meeting. AVC is the biggest Confederation with 65 member countries and FIVB, therefore, saw strategic importance of our Confederation. I hope the Council members, many of them newcomers, will throw their full efforts in their responsibilities and assignments for the sake of the great success of AVC Volleyball,’ Dr Nasser gave his opening speech before the start of the meeting.

AVC Secretary-General Mr Shanrit Wongprasert gave a welcome address to all members on behalf of TVA’s President Somporn Chaibangyang.

The meeting approved the Minutes of the 2015 AVC SEC Meeting in Bangkok before proceeding to the reports, comments and recommendations of the 2015 AVC tournaments, allowing those in charge of controlling some certain competitions as technical delegates chances to speak out and comment on the problems they faced while on duty.

SEC Chairman Dr Eom has asked members who might be nominated to be delegates in a future competition to provide their technical expertise and ability to the organisers of the AVC tournaments to help make them great successes.

Later on, Mr Shanrit, who decided during the AVC General Assembly in Saudi Arabia last November to step down from the position of AVC SEC Chairman, reported on the FIVB SEC Meeting in Lausanne on February 2-3, 2016, explaining about the updated system for the Preliminary Enquiry and General Technical Meeting. According to Shanrit, the General Technical Meeting has been cancelled for the World League and World Grand Prix, but remains optional for other tournaments. In terms of the Press Conference, it’s still compulsory that the activity should be held prior to the competition, with the Press Delegate, Coach and Captain in attendance.

The proposals from 2016 Commission Meeting were also taken into consideration in the Saturday’s meeting including change of the name of the TV and New Media Commission to TV & Digital Commission, while the number of teams in the competitions such as under age categories, according to the Finance Commission, should be reduced.

Shanrit also confirmed that the World Olympic Qualification Tournament to be hosted in Japan in May will feature eight teams to play a single round-robin competition, with the first priority for the team to make the cut for the Rio Games being the Best-ranked Asian team, followed by the top three-ranked teams (if an Asian team are ranked among top three, then the next ranked team will be qualified.)

Aside from the World Olympic Qualification Tournament, a look ahead for the future competitions was also one of the main topics raised in the meeting. As the draw of lots ceremony for the 18th Asian Men’s U20 Championship in Chinese Taipei and the 18th Asian Women’s U19 Championship in Thailand is due to be held on Sunday, March 6, the second day of the AVC SEC Meeting, Kazakhstan has confirmed to become the candidate country in case India cannot host the 8-team AVC Cup for Men in September.

Meanwhile, all six AVC tournaments to be held this year have been confirmed on Saturday, with Chinese Taipei hosting the 18th Asian Men’s U20 Championship from July 9 to 17 and Thailand the 18th Asian Women’s U19 Championship in Nakhon Ratchasima from July 23 to 31. Myanmar will be the battle ground for the 2016 Asian Men’s Club Championship between August 23 to 31 and the 2016 Asian Women’s Club Championship will take place in the Philippines during September 3 and 11. Vietnam will host the 5th AVC Cup for Women fromSeptember 12 to 18, with India still uncertain of being able to host the 5th AVC Cup for Men from September 19 to 25.

Shanrit said Asia’s prospects for the 2020 Olympic Qualification process should be much better than 2016. This time, AVC, compared with the other Confederations, are likely to suffer the disadvantage of the Olympic Qualification. As the other Confederations have twice chances in an effort of making the cut for the Olympics, Asians’ opportunity ran into trouble as there was only once that they could take part in the Olympic Qualification Tournament and more importantly, the participating Asian teams are only top four in the world ranking to test their mettle. They find it tough going.

He also informed the meeting that the hosts of the 2016 FIVB Men’s and Women’s Club Championships have yet been confirmed, while the 2018 World Championship Qualification first round in both men’s and women’s competitions is due to kick off this coming September. So far, a total of 23 men’s teams and 18 women’s sides have registered for participation, while four teams apiece from both categories will qualify for the World Championship Finals.

Thairath TV Channel 32 on Thursday held a press conference to announce its four-year rights to broadcast the AVC competitions including 11 highly-competitive tournaments in 2016.

The meeting was held on February 25 at Parichart Room in Golden Tulip Sovereign Hotel in Bangkok, with AVC First Executive Vice President Essa Hamza presiding. Also in attendance were AVC Secretary-General Shanrit Wongprasert, Somporn Chaibangyang, president of Thailand Volleyball Association, Thanthip Sirinupong, Thai Beverage’s Vice President of External Affairs, Vithoon Niruntarai, Chief Executive Officer of Siam Inter Multimedia (Public) Company and Watchara Watcharapol, Chief Executive Officer of Triple V Broadcast which operates Thairath TV. A large number of local media representatives also joined the meeting.

 

In his speech, Watchara said, “After televising live matches of various sports competitions, Thairath TV Channel 32 has tremendously received a warm welcome and the continued admiration from local audience on our quality we had produced and a special attention we paid to the live broadcast of all events. We also worked on our easy-to-understand pre- and post-match graphic design mixed by modern technology in order that our fans can have fun and thoroughly understand the tournament we have been televising.

 

“In terms of the AVC indoor and beach volleyball tournaments, we intend to make them intensely interesting and worth waiting for watching since they are hotly-contested competitions Thai fans should not miss. All competitions have been regarded as major events Thai fans look forward to watching and we, therefore, must be well-prepared to produce the live broadcast quality signals the best we can. We promise to broadcast the events, making the most of our own standard. At the same time, we will try to keep developing our live broadcast production. Furthermore, the live broadcast will not only be made on TV, but also on display in various platforms including website (www.thairath.tv), Youtube (Thairath Youtube Channel) and My Thairath Application. Thairath TV Channel 32 are doing all these things with an aim of throwing our full support to the Thai sports,” he added.

 

According to Watchara, Thairath TV won the four-year rights starting from 2016 to 2019 to televise the Asian Volleyball Confederation competitions including 11 major events this year.

 

“We will kick off our live broadcast this year with the 2016 Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships from Sydney, Australia from March 25 to 28,” said Watchara.

 

He concluded that two top-flight competitions await the Thai fans in September and certainly, they can enjoy watching the two tournaments via Thairath TV Channel 32. The two events consist of  the 2016 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship in the Philippines between September 3 and 11 and the 5th AVC Cup for Women in Vietnam from September 12 to 18.