Bangkok, Thailand, January 28, 2023 – The AVC Beach Volleyball Committee held its annual meeting in a hybrid format on Saturday, with a wide range of key topics including upcoming FIVB and AVC events and 2023 AVC Beach Volleyball Calendar raised for consideration and further discussion.
Mr Kritsada, far left, Mr Thomas, middle, and Mr Kiattipong, far right, at AVC Headquarters
AVC Beach Volleyball Committee Chairman Mr Craig Carracher from Australia, himself Member of the FIVB Beach Volleyball Commission, chaired the Saturday’s meeting on Zoom, with Committee Secretary Mr Chang Chi Ming, Thomas from Hong Kong China and AVC Beach Volleyball Director from Thailand Mr Kritsada Panaseri and Ms Nattalida Sumdangdech, AVC Officer in charge of AVC Beach Volleyball Department, joining from the AVC Headquarters in Bangkok.
Mr Craig
The other Members attended the meeting on zoom consisted of Mr Mohammed Salem Al-Kuwari from Qatar, Mr Le Hoang Son from Vietnam, Mr Tomoki Kimishima from Japan, Mr Xiang Qian from China, Mr Nader Ansari from Iran and Ms Debbie Wooster from Vanuatu, also Member of the FIVB Beach Volleyball Commission.
AVC Secretary General Mr Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai delivered a welcome speech prior to the meeting.
“On behalf of AVC President Madam Rita Subowo, I would like to thank Committee Chairman Mr Craig and all Members for joining the meeting this time. Under the leadership of Mr Craig, beach volleyball becomes a very fast-growing sport and thanks to his hard work and dedication, beach volleyball has also made rapid development. Regarding the Tokyo 2020, I would like to congratulate Australia and Qatar on their significant successes in the Olympic Games,” said Mr Kiattipong.
“AVC had hosted many beach volleyball events in 2022, not only for the seniors, but also underage and the Asian Tours. Without doubts, this is very important for AVC to promote and develop beach volleyball in all five Zones of Asia. However, I would like to stress that working together may lead to greater collaboration, better promotion and sustainable development of beach volleyball in Asia. The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships will be held this year, with the Paris Olympic Games taking place the following year. The Olympic qualification tournaments will also get under way this year.
“As all beach volleyball events have their own values for every continent, every zone and every country and therefore, Mr Craig and all Members in this Committee play vital roles in helping promote and develop beach volleyball in Asia. Your shared ideas in this meeting and productive feedbacks can lead to development and success of the sport in the near future,” he emphasized.
Ms Debbie
Mr Xiang Qian
The meeting started with the approval of the Agenda and the Minutes of the 2022 AVC Beach Volleyball Committee Meeting, followed by the Chairman’s report on the FIVB Beach Volleyball Commission Meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland on December 7, 2022.
Regarding the report, Mr Craig mentioned the three main topics in that meeting to be well aware of.
First, new Mikasa Ball is making its debut in Doha at the Beach Pro Tour Finals 2022. The ball promises faster and more exciting gameplay for players and fans around the world.
“As AVC beach volleyball events including the AVC Beach Tour Samila Open in Thailand is due to be organised in April and AVC Women’s Beach Tour Ho Chi Minh City Open in Vietnam is expected to take place either in June or July, we have to make sure that we will have enough new Mikasa balls for players to practise ahead of their match schedule in the tournaments. So, I would like to request AVC to hurriedly contact Mikasa for enough allocation of new Mikasa balls for the purposes of the AVC tournaments in 2023,” Mr Craig said.
Mr Mohammed Salem Al-Kuwari
Mr Tomoki
On the use of the new Mikasa balls in the on-going Beach Pro Tour Finals 2022 in Doha, Mr Mohammed Salem Al-Kuwari commented that the ball looks nice and beautiful with some colours, but only a few players, most of them in the world’s Top 10, said that they did not feel comfortable with the ball. However, they were practising with the new ball only a few weeks ahead of the competition and they still need more times to get familiar with the new Mikasa ball.
Second, the extra round will be added to the competitions which were not included last year and Third, the seeding and ranking points in beach volleyball will be considered.
Mr Nader Ansari
Mr Le Hoang Son
After that, Mr Kritsada comprehensively reported on the 2022 AVC Beach Volleyball Championships and FIVB events in Asia, saying that 11 FIVB and AVC events apiece were held in Asia last year, totalling 22 events. Players from 41 National Federations participated in those events in 2022, compared with only 15 Federations in 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic severely made the global impact.
Furthermore, the topics on the Changes of the Ranking/Seeding Points System and the Reserve Team in Entry Form had been purposed for discussion.
Following the improving COVID-19 situation, the switching back to normal, by counting “the points from events during 365 days” in stead of since 2019 was raised for consideration and decision.
In terms of the Reserve Team in Entry Form, it was informed that participating NFs can additionally register one reserve team in each event. If the Main Draw is not full with either 24 or 32 teams due to teams’ withdrawal, one host reserve team will then be selected to fill the vacancy, then followed by the best reserve team among the NFs to be included to the available spots.
It was informed later that the aforementioned Entry Form must be sent to the organisers (and make copy to AVC) by email. Each NF can enrol 2 teams plus one reserve team per gender. Hosts can enrol 3 teams plus one reserve team per gender, while the NFs will be responsible for filling their teams information in the Volleyball Information System (VIS) as per the regulations.
Mr Kritsada and Mr Thomas
The Meeting also considered the 2023 AVC Beach Volleyball Calendar which saw Australia, China and Oman become the Candidate Organisers for the 2023 Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships.
As Oman need to host the men’s only Asian Beach Volleyball Championship from September 5 to 9, Australia and China are willing to host the double-gender Championships, with the former likely to organise it between May 4 and 7 and the latter between June 22 and 25.
The three candidate organisers had been requested to update their necessary hosting information including general conditions, flights and other important matters in order that the AVC Board of Administration can raise the point for further consideration and decision during its next meeting.
Qualification systems for the AVC Beach Volleyball Continental Cup, a qualifying event for the Paris Olympics 2024, and the 2023 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships were the last two topics on the agenda discussed and considered in the meeting.
Mr Craig
According to the timeline, Confederations will have to submit qualification systems to the FIVB for approval by January 31, 2023. In principle, the Continental Confederation qualification system shall be established to give a fair and equitable opportunity for the best athletes from the said Continental Confederation to participate in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships. The allocation of the quota places should reflect the above principle through dedicated qualification tournaments or ranking based on on-field results established with the last 365 days, with August 21, 2023 as the final entries deadline.
As thus, FIVB strongly recommends the use of the Team ranking (if any) of the Continental Confederation, or dedicated qualification tournament (if feasible) to determine the teams qualified through the Continental Qualification pathway to the 2023 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
Related links of AVC
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation
AVC Twitter: click: www.twitter.com/AsianVolleyball
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/avcvolley/?hl=en
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation
AVC WeChat: Asian Volleyball Confederation