Jiangmen, China, June 29, 2024 – The 8,500-seater Jiangmen Sports Center Gymnasium, which once served as the competition site for AVC Men’s Tokyo Qualification 2020, is all set for the 22nd Asian Women’s U20 Volleyball Championship between July 1 and 9, with 12 teams vying for top honor and four berths at stake for the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U21 World Championship.
Starting with the 2025 edition, the Women’s U21 World Championship will be expanded to include 24 teams in stead of 16 teams of previous editions following the decision adopted by FIVB in June 2023. However, as current world champions China automatically qualified for the 2025 edition, the 22nd Asian Women’s U20 Volleyball Championship in Jiangmen is, as a result, likely to qualify 4 teams excluding China for the next year’s Women’s U21 World Championship, due to take place between August and September.
In Jiangmen, teams were divided to four pools of three teams apiece to contest the pool round-robin preliminaries from July 1 to 3. After that, top two teams from each pool will advance to Round of 8, with teams from Pool A and Pool C competing in Pool E and those from Pool B and Pool D featuring in Pool F. The lower-ranked teams finishing third place in each pool will be relegated to Classification Round for 9th-12th places.
The preparations for the 22nd Asian Women’s U20 Championship took a big step forward on Saturday as the Control Committee, chaired by Mr Cai Yi from China, and the Local Organizing Committee of the China Volleyball Association (CVA) and Jiangmen City assembled in Meeting Room 1 inside the Huabao Sports Exhibition Hotel here for the first joint meeting, aimed to initially check readiness in terms of competition and training venues, activities designed to be conducted as match day preparations.
AVC Coordinator Mr Shanrit Wongprasert, himself AVC Executive Director, delivered a welcome speech on behalf of AVC President Mrs Rita Subowo, citing that AVC’s sincere gratitude goes to CVA and Jiangmen City for their great contribution in hosting the championship.
“It was not easy to have a host nation and host city for an underage championship and AVC Board of Administration appreciated Jiangmen’s great effort and contributions for hosting this prestigious event. With good cooperation between Control Committee, Local Organizing Committee, referees, team officials and participating teams, I wish this championship a smooth run and all participating teams a great success,” he added.
After that, Mr Cai Yi introduced all Control Committee Members to the meeting, while the local organizers were also requested likewise to introduce work group in different sections including competition director, court manager, IT manager, transportation director, facility director, medical director, accommodation director and local press.
Technical Delegate Dr Eom Han-Joo from Korea, who arrived in city earlier for venue inspection, said that the the preparation tasks are well done, but only a couple things are needed to go over again to make sure that all is set ahead of the match day.
“The competition schedule has already been confirmed and so, if the hosts would like to change the order of match schedule, they must inform the CC Members one day before the competition in order that they can carefully consider the issue before making further decision if it’s possible or not. However, if the preliminary inquiry is completely conducted, the change cannot be done,” Dr Eom iinsisted.
Team arrivals, training schedule and first-day activities including venue inspection and preliminary inquiry were key matters taken for further consideration and discussion. However, since the venue inspection has already been conducted, Dr Eom mentioned about the preliminary inquiry and the room to be used for General Technical Meeting. The second-day activities including the final inspection and Referee and VIS Clinic were also raised for consideration.
On July 1, the first day of the competition, no change of competition schedule is allowed. Any decision to change must be approved by CC President and Technical Delegate. During the competition, only AVC Official Photographer Ms Somchit Mahanantakul and local official photographer can move around the court to take photos and as no official press conference will be conducted after each match, press interview will take place at the Mixed Zone only.
In terms of the Challenge System to be applied in this championship, a review of actions by teams can be requested for one of the following situations: Ball in/out, Block Touch, Net Fault, Antenna Touch and Foot Fault. Floor Touch is not available for a team request.
CC President Mr Cai Yi concluded the meeting, citing that most of the CC Members had worked together during the last year’s rescheduled Hangzhou Asian Games and they have the skill and knowledge to handle things with success. He suggested local organisers that they follow CC Members’ instructions to ensure a smooth run and a success of the championship.
Shortly after end of the meeting, the Control Committee Members and local organisers went for venue inspection again and found that everything is all set with well-equipped facilities. AVC Technicians started their work of having Challenge equipment installed to make sure the equipment installation will be done in time ahead of the testing.
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