Sri Lanka to host Olympic beach VB qualifiers

Yasaratne GAMAGE

The Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Beach Volleyball Continental Cup 2012 under the supervision of Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation will be held on January 21 and 22 at Negambo beach with the participation of men’s and women’s teams from India, Maldives, Kazakhstan, Iran and Sri Lanka.

The event will also act as a Central Asia qualifiers for London Olympics 2012 and this is the first time that this kind of a tournament is being hosted in Sri Lanka. The event starts at 8am and the last match will be at 5.30pm on both days.

The opening ceremony, scheduled for January 20 at 5pm at the same venue, will be graced by Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa. There will be opportunity to enjoy food, entertainment, music, dance and water sports too. The dual court set up will allow the fans to watch two matches simultaneously.

At a press briefing held at the Light House Gallery yesterday, the logo for the event was unveiled in the presence of Foreign Employment Promotions and welfare Minister, Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation president Dilan Perera who chaired the gathering.

There will be 48 teams, 24 from each gender for London 2012. There are 16 slots await for the highest ranked National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and National Federations (NFs) in the world ranking as at June18, 2012.

Commenting on the opportunity of hosting the game in a Sri Lankan beach, minister Dilan Perera said that Sri Lanka’s achievement in the field of volleyball during recent past and the ideal conditions for beach volleyball with hospitality of people, have been the compelling reason to receive the host status. He also added that Sri Lankan men and women beach volleyball players are confident and fit for the event despite of the set back in the recently concluded tournament in China. The tournament will also be important to set up a second level beach volleyball team, he said.

SLVF Technical Director C Rathnamudali, explaining the game format, said that there will be the introduction of golden set which ends in 15, when there is a tie after playing four matches. Any two players in the squad are eligible to play in the golden set.

He also said that high level of techniques to suite Olympic standards will be utilized during the tournament.

The SLVF has taken every initiative to conduct a successful tournament with the experience gained after the successful conclusion of Hambantota beach games.