The Qatar Volleyball Association (QVA) has reached another milestone on Monday when it announced the official launch of the first Women’s Open Volleyball Championship for 2023-2024 season, with 10 teams testing their mettle in the inaugural competition.
This was announced by Mr Ali bin Ghanem al-Kuwari, President of QVA and West Asia Volleyball Association, at a press conference on Monday, citing that the championship will be the beginning of a series of events – whether local, Gulf or Asian in women’s sports – to be organised in coming season which will also see women referees officiate the matches.
QVA Secretary General Yousef Ahmed, Walid Abdel Samad, Technical Secretary of the Referees Committee of QVA, Amna al-Kuwari, chief of QVA’s Women’s Sports Committee, Hussein Imam, QVA technical expert, Nour Loubani, the committee’s co-ordinator, and representatives of the participating teams also attended the press conference.
The championship, which will be held in a single round-robin competition, is set to begin on October 20, 2023. Participating teams comprise Qatar SC, Al Arabi, Al Gharafa, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar University, Doha University, Wa’ed Academy, F45, Lions Sri Lanka and Academy team Sportlab.
Al-Kuwari praised the co-operation between the Air Force Federation and the Qatari Women’s Sports Committee (QWSC), headed by Lulwa al-Marri.
“We are looking forward to forming a strong women’s squad capable of competing in international tournaments. We have to host such tournaments in order to attract the best female players so that they provide strength to our national volleyball player base,” al-Kuwari said.
The QVA President also revealed that the association is in the process of finalising the first edition of a beach volleyball tournament, which will be held next March, in addition to preparing the clubs to participate in the women’s beach volleyball league next season.
QVA Secretary General Ahmed thanked the QWSC for its great efforts in preparing for this tournament, which will be the first of women’s volleyball tournaments during the coming period’.
Hussein Imam, the technical expert, said the competitions will be scheduled every Friday, while some fixtures could be held during weekdays if the teams come to an agreement.
“Every team will consist of a maximum of 12 or 14 players with 6 players on the field and a maximum of 6 or 8 on the bench. The final ranking of the teams in the league will be based on the number of wins. In the event of a tie in the number of wins, the teams will be ranked according to the total points obtained from matches,” Imam said.
Amna al-Kuwari, chief of QVA’s Women’s Sports Committee, said: “These are exciting times for women’s sport. I am happy to see first edition of the Women’s Open Volleyball Championship set to be launchd this week with participation of 10 teams.”
Nour Loubani, co-ordinator of QVA’s Women’s Sports Committee, said: “It is important for each side to have media co-ordinators so that fan engagement can be managed properly with right kind of information going out to volleyball fans.”
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