Bangkok, Thailand, October 28, 2020 – Asian Volleyball Confederation has bestowed AVC Honorary Titles to leading members retiring from AVC Office bearer positions including Dr Saleh A. Bin Nasser and Mr Essa Hamza following approval by the highly-successful meeting of the 23rd AVC General Assembly via video conference on October 26.
The AVC Board of Administration Members, which met online on October 9, had already agreed in principle to give the title “AVC Honorary Life President” to Dr Saleh A. Bin Nasser, a recently-retired AVC President who has been suffering from health problems, and AVC Executive Vice President Mr Essa Hamza, who has decided to leave office of the continent’s volleyball-governing body.
In addition, the title “AVC Honorary Life Vice President” has also been bestowed upon AVC Secretary-General Mr Shanrit Wongprasert, himself AVC Zonal Executive Vice President S.E.Z. who will also be leaving office after ending of his term, and AVC Zonal Executive Vice President W.Z. Mr Ibrahim Abdul Malik Mohammed, who has decided to call it quits.
“AVC HONORARY LIFE PRESIDENT” DR SALEH AHMAD BIN NASSER, 78, FROM SAUDI ARABIA
Dr Saleh A. Bin Nasser, left, receives souvenir from TVA President Mr Somporn Chaibangyang during AVC Board of Administration Meeting in Thailand a few years ago.
Dr. Saleh A. Bin Nasser has dedicated much of his life to sports and promoting our beloved sport of volleyball in particular for around 40 years. He had become a Board member and Consultant of Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee from 1964 to 2014 apart from being at the helm of the Saudi Arabian Volleyball Federation from 2008 to 2013.
In 1992, Dr Saleh A. Bin Nasser joined Asian Volleyball Confederation to become the first Vice President of AVC and has held the position until 2008 when he was elected the AVC President and also joined FIVB as the Executive Vice President and Executive Committee Member since then.
As the sole candidate for the AVC Presidency in 2015, he was re-elected by unanimous decision for another four-year term following the support of the 61 National Federations attending the 21st AVC Elective General Assembly in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The huge experience gained while he held a number of positions of great responsibility, primarily in the areas of youth, sports and culture of his country and the whole region made it possible for Dr Saleh A. Bin Nasser to contribute brilliant ideas to the FIVB and for the benefit of the Asian volleyball.
He has been Honorary Life Member of Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation (ISSF) since 2012 until now and was the founding member of Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee and Secretary in 1964.
Under his outstanding leadership, Asian volleyball has obviously been elevated to the next level, with China and Japan taking bronze in the women’s team event in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics in Beijing and London respectively. In the Rio Games four years later in Brazil, China flexed their muscles to capture the gold medal in the women’s event, with Iran becoming the only men’s team from Asia pitting their expertise against the world’s best. During Dr Saleh’s period as the AVC President, Asia also takes centre stage as it becomes the battleground for world’s competitions such as FIVB World Grand Prix, World Cup, World Grand Champions’ Cup and World Championship, making volleyball hit a fever pitch in the continent.
Dr. Saleh A. Bin Nasser, as the then AVC President, always knows well the task he is facing is big but still vows to develop volleyball in Asia with his best efforts to see more Asian teams win in the world’s highly-competitive competitions.
“AVC HONORARY LIFE PRESIDENT” MR ESSA HAMZA AHMAD AL FAILAKAWI, 67, FROM KUWAIT
Mr Essa Hamza poses with FIVB President Dr Ary Graca.
Like Dr Saleh A. Bin Nasser, the devoted Mr Essa Hamza has been working tirelessly for almost 40 years in an endeavour of sustainably developing Asian volleyball and drastically promote this family sport across the continent.
He became Member of the AVC Board of Administration between 1980 and 1989 and Member of the FIVB Board of Administration from 1986 to 1988 and again during 2004 and 2012. Mr Essa Hamza has proven himself to be a can-do person as he has managed multiple roles to handle different responsibilities.
He was appointed AVC Executive Vice President for the 1989-2012 term and remained in the same position from 2015 to 2020. Regarding his important roles in the FIVB, Mr Essa Hamza was the FIVB Executive Vice President since 2012 until 2020 and has been Member of the FIVB Finance Committee from 1984 to 2016 as well as its Secretary from 2016 until now.
He was Chairman of the AVC Finance Committee in 2000 and held the position until now, having charge of budget, revenues and expenses as the chief financial officer of AVC. Back to his home country, Mr Essa Hamza has been the President of Kuwait Volleyball Association since 1994 until 2002.
He is a hard-working man, devoted and determined to get clarity on what goal achievement would look like. With him as a key man to tackle all problems and challenges, AVC can get things completely done and move forward in the right direction.
“AVC HONORARY LIFE VICE PRESIDENT” MR SHANRIT WONGPRASERT, 77, FROM THAILAND
Mr Shanrit Wongprasert
Former national team player of Thailand (1967-1977), Mr Shanrit is one of the AVC’s key persons who can connect cooperation and collaboration among work group and colleagues not only at the AVC Headquarters in Bangkok, but also among AVC BA Members and AVC Affiliated National Federations.
A man whose life seemingly has been dedicated to volleyball, Shanrit became Member of FIVB Board of Administration since 1992, while his position as the AVC Zonal Executive Vice President S.E.Z. dated back to 2005 and the AVC Secretary-General since 2016. Locally, he has been Honorary Secretary and CEO, Thailand Volleyball Association since 2015.
Working hard keeps Shanrit’s life occupied with important matters and they always lead to more successes in whatever he has tried to do, particularly volleyball-related activities and competitions. At the AVC Headquarters, Shanrit has dealt a lot of secretariat works, but he learned well how to manage each functional piece of works there successfully and he realised the value of putting the right person into the right job. Therefore, no matter how tough situation, he is still perseverant and upbeat that good things come to those who wait.
A highly-potential person the others can rely on, Shanrit has always been nominated as chairman of the organising committees for a number of FIVB events held in Thailand including the VNL and Underage Volleyball World Championships aside from being appointed as Member in the Control Committees for various international, Asian volleyball and multipart events including the Olympic Games, Asian Games, the FIVB World Championships and the VNL.
Even the Asian events, Shanrit remains the pick of the bunch to be appointed as chairman of the organising committees for various competitions including Asian Volleyball Championships, Asian Underage Championships and Asian Beach Volleyball Championships
The proficient Shanrit has a lot of experience on competition organisation behind him. He had been Chairman of the AVC Sports Events Council from 1991 to 2016 but it was 1988 when he first joined FIVB Sports Events Council, which he held until 2016. He has been Member of AVC Board of Administration since 1990, but in terms of working in office of Thailand Volleyball Association, Shanrit joined the local governing body as Secretary-General in 1984.
“AVC HONORARY LIFE VICE PRESIDENT” MR IBRAHIM ABDUL MALIK MOHAMMED, 69, FROM UAE
Mr Ibrahim Abdul Malik Mohammed
Dedicated his life to working closely with AVC and FIVB for many years, Mr Malik had been Board Member and Secretary-General of UAE Volleyball Federation from 1992 to 1996, the same period that he became the Board Member of Arab Volleyball Federation. He stepped up to claim responsibility of working in the position of President, AVC Western Zonal Volleyball Association in 2011.
Malik joined AVC in 1993 when he was appointed the AVC Auditor and after ending of work term in 2001, he has become Member of AVC Board of Administration from 2001 until 2020 and also was elected AVC Zonal Executive Vice President W.Z. since 2016 when he held the position until he decided to call it a day during the recent 23rd AVC General Assembly through video conference. He has joined FIVB as the Board of Administration Member since 2016.
The above-mentioned foursome is really awesome in terms of diligent, determined and dedicated. They all have a passion for volleyball and have high hopes on seeing the bright future of Asian volleyball. Although four of them have already retired, some might say in reality, they will never have plan to retire for life because volleyball is their life. Without doubts, they still continue to work together with all parties concerned just for the unity and Asian solidarity and for the benefit of Asian volleyball.
Related links of AVC
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation
AVC Twitter: click: https://twitter.com/avcvolley
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/avcvolley/?hl=en
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation
AVC WeChat: Asian Volleyball Confederation