Bangkok, Thailand, April 16, 2020 – AVC has come to a decision to entirely reschedule all AVC Championships set to take place later this year to start from September as a result of the relevant going concern considerations over the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Cloud of uncertainty has loomed over the future of the AVC Championships since the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus has been first identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Major competitions both indoor and beach volleyball events have been put on hold, making cancellation and rescheduling the only options left.
Recently, AVC has sent FIVB General Director Mr Fabio Azevedo a letter regarding the tentative 2020 AVC competition calendar, asking for his consideration to kindly approve the AVC’s requests and recommendation for AVC’s preparations to organise AVC Volleyball and Beach Volleyball Championships soon after when the global outbreak ends and life gets back to normal.
If the Covid-19 situation within the end of June 2020 improves dramatically, with countries lifting their lockdown restrictions and airports and transportation solutions implemented to ensure continuity of service, AVC has planned to organise 2020 AVC Championships from September until the first week of October in order to avoid the National League Season.
However, the continental governing body has to get the nod from FIVB to organise the 2020 AVC Club Championships outside the National League Season aside from staging the Asian Girls’ U18 and the Asian Boys’ U19 Championships within February 2021. Actually, the AVC Club Championships have been set initially to be completed before May 15, while U18 and U19 players stand a rare chance of competing professionally in the National League Season. All Asian Underage Championships will serve as qualification tournaments for 2021 FIVB Underage World Championships.
The future still cannot be predicted easily how long the Covid-19 outbreak will last and thus, if the crisis continues until July or August 2020, making AVC Championships unable to go ahead as initially planned, AVC has decided to cancel all 2020 AVC Championships. Instead, AVC will try to organise only Underage Championships (Girls’ U18, Boys’ U19, Women’s U20 and Men’s U21) within February 2021.
A total of 10 AVC Championships due to be held in 2020 are as follows: 2020 Asian Men’s Club Championship in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, 2020 Asian Women’s Club Championship in Tianjin, China, 20th Asian Men’s U20 Championship in Esfahan, Iran, 20th Asian Women’s U19 Championship in Chongqing, China, 2nd AVC Men’s Challenge Cup in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan 13th Asian Men’s U18 Championship in Manama, Bahrain, AVC Cup for Men in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, 2nd AVC Women’s Challenge Cup in Hong Kong China, 13th Asian Women’s U17 Championship in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand and AVC Cup for Women in Yunlin, Chinese Taipei.
In terms of beach volleyball, the Semi-finals and Finals of the AVC Continental Cup, the double-gender beach volleyball events which have served as the qualifications for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, have been postponed due to the growing spread of Covid-19.
The Semi-finals and Finals were due to take place in China’s coronavirus epicentre Wuhan, with the former being originally scheduled to begin from June 20 to 22 and the latter set for June 25 to 28. However, the burgeoning epidemic has wreaked havoc with the international sports calendar including the Semi-finals and Finals of the AVC Continental Cup.
Since the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were postponed until 2021 due to the grave Covid-19 outbreak concerns, AVC has adopted a wait-and-see attitude toward the further notice based on the information provided by IOC and FIVB.
The postponement of both events is in line with the strict safety measures of FIVB and IOC to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved at the competition and the Asian volleyball community. Therefore, AVC has to wait and see further consideration and final decision from both governing bodies. If they make things clear that the Semi-finals and Finals of the AVC Continental Cup can go ahead, AVC will eventually reschedule both events to a later date and the AVC Beach Volleyball Committee will take the issue into consideration before the final decision can be made.
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