Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, July 2, 2021 – After successfully hosting recent AVC Continental Cup Semi-finals and Finals, Nakhon Pathom has been confirmed to next organise the 3rd Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championships behind close doors from July 3 to 6 at the makeshift competition site in front of Mida Grande Hotel Dhavaravati Nakhon Pathom here.
The double-gender, four-day championships serve as the Asian qualification tournament for the FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships in Roi Et, Thailand between September 15 and 19, 2021, with the top five teams (federations) excluding Thailand in each gender progressing. As the host nation, two Thai teams apiece in men’s and women’s events will be eligible for the U19 World Championships.
The U19 World Championships had already suffered the further postponement due to the on-going global COVID-19 pandemic.
Thailand was initially scheduled to stage the world event from September 1 to 6 in 2020 before it was moved to November 10 to 15 on the same year and then March 24 to 28, 2021 following the request from AVC and Thailand Volleyball Association and approval from the FIVB Board of Administration.
However, in light of extensive travel restrictions worldwide and rise in COVID-19 cases, it had been decided to postpone the event to September 15-19, 2021 to ensure the health and wellbeing of the global Volleyball Family.
It is important to note that the age limit for the postponed U19 Beach Volleyball World Championships will remain the same as it was for the 2020 event. As such, participating athletes must be born on January 1, 2002 onwards.
Regarding the Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championships here in Nakhon Pathom, a total of 21 teams from 8 federations including 8 women’s teams will strut their stuff in the championships. The participating federations comprise Australia, Iran, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Lebanon, Qatar, Indonesia and Thailand.
Teams in the men’s event have been divided into four pools – Pools A, B and C featuring three teams each and Pool D comprising four teams. In the women’s competition, eight teams have been split into two pools of four teams apiece.
The pool round-robin preliminaries in the women’s event will start at 8am on July 3, while the men’s encounters will take place from 10am on the same day. Only top two teams in the women’s event will advance to the cross semi-finals. Unlike the women’s category, only top teams from each pool in the men’s competition after the preliminaries will be progressing, with teams finishing second, third and fourth places having drawn for quarter-finals clashes with those top teams.
On July 2 evening, Mr Shanrit Wongprasert, Executive Director of the AVC Headquarters, presided over the team briefing. Shanrit, acting on behalf of AVC President Mrs Rita Subowo, welcomed all participating teams to the top-flight competition in Thailand and wished them the best of luck.
Technical Delegate Mr Kritsada Panaseri and Referee Delegate Mr Songsak Chareonpong jointly chaired the team briefing, with team managers of all participating teams in attendance. Due to health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19, the meeting was held via Zoom meeting to help keep face-to-face communication a top priority for clear understanding of the teams’ seedings, rules of the games and match schedule.
With only one day ahead of the official kickoff of the Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championships, participating teams sharpened their skills at the competition venue in front of the “bubble” hotel on Friday in their final preparation for the intense four-day contest.
Nakhon Pathom had hosted the previous edition which saw Indonesia’s Danang Herlambang/Bintang Akbar perform superbly to end hosts Thailand’s dreams of sweeping both titles at the 2018 Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championships when they produced a fantastic comeback 2-1 win over Thailand’s Phanupong Thanan/Phichakon Narathon in the men’s final.
All updated competition results of the 3rd Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championship from July 3 to 5 and images can be downloaded from www.asianvolleyball.net. Click the tournament pop-up to visit the competition page. Live streaming can also be viewed via the given AVC Official Website or www.facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation.
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