Jakarta, Indonesia, February 10, 2018 – Indonesia will organise the 18th Asian Games Men’s Volleyball Invitation Tournament between February 11 and 15, with Japan, Hong Kong and two teams from the host nation taking part in the competition which serves as the Test Event Asian Games 2018 to take place later this year.
The five-day invitational meet is held with an aim to allow organisers to test venues and operations ahead of the 18th Asian Games, commonly known as Jakarta Palembang 2018, a pan-Asian multi-sport event scheduled to be held in Jakarta and co-hosts Palembang from August 18 to September 2.
The single round-robin preliminaries will be held from February 11 to 13. The cross semi-finals will take place on February 14, with the best team after the preliminary round taking on the team ranked fourth and the team finishing second battling it out against the team ranked 3rd.
On the final day on February 15, the two losing teams will fight for the bronze medal, while the two winning teams set up a final showdown.
Among the four participating teams, hosts Indonesia are sending two teams. Spearheaded by hard-attacking Rivan Nurmulki, who won the Best Opposite Spiker award at the last year’s Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship on home soil in Gresik, Indonesia 1 are fully-fledged and strong with the likes of 10 players who competed at the last year’s Asian meet. There, Indonesia came up with brilliant form to stun powerhouses Iran in the quarter-finals ahead of their best-ever fourth-place finish.
Indonesia 2 also have three potential players who competed at the 2018 Asian meet including Sigit Ardian, Mahfud Nurcahyadi and Ali Maulana. Japan, current consecutive two-time Asian champions, are sending a young team packed with university stars, while Hong Kong, which finished 16th at the last year’s Asian meet, also sent a well-established side to be reckoned with in the future.
All four teams have already arrived in the Indonesian capital and started training at the North Jakarta Gymnasium on Saturday. Referee & VIS Clinic was also held on the same day to review the final preparation, duties and responsibilities of the officials on duty at the test tournament.
Match schedule
February 11
4pm: Indonesia 1 v Indonesia 2
7pm: Hong Kong v Japan
February 12
4pm: Indonesia 2 v Japan
7pm: Indonesia 1 v Hong Kong
February 13
4pm: Hong Kong v Indonesia 2
7pm: Japan v Indonesia 1
February 14
4pm: Semi-finals: Rank 1 v Rank 4
7pm: Semi-finals: Rank 2 v Rank 3
February 15
4pm: Losers (Rank 1 v Rank 4) v Losers (Rank 2 v Rank 3)
7pm: Winners (Rank 1 v Rank 4) v Winners (Rank 2 v Rank 3)
9pm: awarding ceremony
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