AVC has announced that a new competition format will come into effect for all AVC Championships from 2018

AVC has announced that a new competition format will come into effect for all AVC Championships this year with teams from the same level dealing with close battles, promising a real adrenaline rush and boisterous cheers from the very beginning of the tournament.

Following the 2017 AVC Board of Administration’s unanimous decision on discussion topics proposed by the Sports Events Council, the new AVC competition format will see teams being drawn into three or four pools up to the total amount of the participating teams. Each team, as well as the host side, will be assigned into a pool according to their previous ranking.

As the three or four best-ranked teams from the previous tournament will be drawn in the same Pool A, the next best three (or four teams) will contest Pool B. Pool C will comprise teams finishing next best three or four teams, with Pool D featuring teams which did not participate in the previous tournament.

“The new format of all AVC Championships will provide nonstop excitement from the first match. The teams finishing top three or top four in the previous edition are likely to have the same standard and tactics. Therefore, they will come up with their best performances from the start to vie for the top spot of their pool. Situations will also be the same in the other pools, with teams with the similar standards fighting it out for a better position in their pools,” cited AVC Secretary-General Mr Shanrit Wongprasert.

With their rankings from the previous edition being taken into consideration for drawing of lots, the participating teams have already been drawn in respective pools in all AVC Championships this year. However, the casting lots for all 10 AVC Championships will be made on Monday, February 26 at Dusit Princess Srinakharin Hotel in Bangkok to decide the match schedule of each championship.

“According to the new competition format, teams will first compete in the pool round-robin preliminaries, where they all will be ranked respectively in their pools. The knockout second round will be held later, with team finishing first taking on team finishing 8th and the 2nd playing the 7th. If there are more than eight teams such as 11 teams in this year’s Asian Women’s Club Championship in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan from July 11 to 18, after the first round, top teams in Pool A will have the rest day, while the remaining teams will compete in the so-called “qualification tournament for teams in quarter-finals,” allowing lower-ranked teams (team finishing 4th and below) to fight for their best outcome in the Championship,” Shanrit explained.

“If there are 16 teams or more, the Championship will be split to Division 1 and Division 2, to be held at the same time in the same Championship. Each Division will comprise teams to be drawn according to their rankings in the previous edition. However, at the end of the Championship, only two teams with the worst performances in Division 1 will be relegated to Division 2 in the next edition of the Championship, while top two teams in Division 2 will be promoted to compete in Division 1 instead.

For a better understanding in the new AVC competition format, the 12th Asian Women’s U17 Volleyball Championship, which is due to be held in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand from May 20 to 27, 2018, will be brought to use as example.

A total of 13 teams have already confirmed their participation in the youth event. Japan, champions at the previous edition in Chongqing, China in 2017, are in Pool A with China (2nd) and Korea (3rd). Pool B comprises hosts Thailand (4th), Chinese Taipei (5th) and Hong Kong (6th). Australia (7th), New Zealand (8th) and Iran (9th) are in Pool C, while Pool D consists of Uzbekistan (10th), (11th), (12th) and (13th). Kazakhstan, India and Malaysia, all of which did not compete in the previous episode, have been drawn in Pool D as  11th, 12th, 13th teams.

In the round-robin preliminaries, Japan, China and Korea will play in Pool A to fight for a better 1-2-3 finish, while Thailand, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong in Pool B will compete for their better positions among the 4-5-6 rankings. Australia, New Zealand and Iran will contest Pool C for the 7-8-9 rankings, while Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, India and Malaysia will battle for their better rankings from 10th to 13th places.

After the first round in Nakhon Pathom, the top three teams Japan, China and Korea in Pool A will have a rest day on May 23, leaving only team finishing 4th to play team finishing 9th, the 5th to take on the 10th, the 6th to fight against the 11th, the 7th to battle it out against the 12th and the 8th to meet the 13th. The winning teams will then advance to the quarter-finals, while the losers will play in the 9th-13th classification.

“The new competition format will not only reduce one competition day from 9 days in usual to 8 days,  but also help spectators enjoy the thrilling match from the beginning of the championshiph. As the much stronger teams will have to come up with their best form throughout the tournament, the lower-ranked sides have to fight it hard for their survivals in the next round. I believe that audience will be thrilled nonstop by the action-packed matches set for all AVC Championships this year,” Shanrit said.

The drawing of lots will be held on February 26, 2018 for 10 AVC Championships as follows.

1. The 12th Asian Women’s U17 Volleyball Championship in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand from May 20 to 27.
2. The 19th Asian Women’s U19 Volleyball Championship in Bac Ninh, Vietnam from June 10 to 17.
3. The 12th Asian Men’s U18 Volleyball Championship in Tabriz, Iran from June 29 to July6.
4. The 2018 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan from July 11 to 18.
5. The 19th Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship in Manama, Bahrain from July 21 to 28.
6. The 1st AVC Women’s Challenge Cup in Hong Kong from July 30 to August 5.
7. The 2018 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar from July 30 to August 6.
8. The 6th AVC Cup for Men in Chinese Taipei from August 8 to 15.
9. The 1st AVC Men’s Challenge Cup (host country to be announced later) from September 15 to 22.
10. The 6th AVC Cup for Women in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand from September 16 to 23.
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