Dubai to host Asian Volleyball in 2013

The magnificent Hamdan bin Mohammed Sports Complex in Dubai will be the venue for the 17th Asian Volleyball Championships in September 2013.

It was officially announced by Dr. Ahmad Saad Al Sharif, secretary general of Dubai Sports Council (DSC) and Amer Ali, president of UAE Volleyball Association (UAEVA) at the DSC premises on Thursday.

"The Hamdan bin Mohammed Sports Complex gave us the opportunity 100 per cent to win the bid as host nation," said UAE Volleyball Association (UAEVA) president Amer Ali at the announcement on Thursday at the Dubai Sports Council (DSC) headquarters in Jadaf. 

“Our target is to ensure we have the highest number of 22 participating teams in this important competition,” said Ali.

The 1989 championship in Seoul, South Korea had attracted the highest number with the participation of 19 countries.

“Of course, as hosts we will have our challenge of doing well. However, I cannot say that we will have a team that is capable of winning the title in two years, but at least we will have a much stronger team that is capable of competing against the best in Asia,” he promised.

“On the other hand, the most important thing for us as organisers successfully organising it," he added.

Dr. Sharif was pleased to have such a high-profile event being staged at the Hamdan bin Mohammad Sports Complex.

“This complex is the ideal venue for a competition of this stature. It will fulfill one of the core objectives of having such a multi-sports complex in Dubai,” he said.

It already staged two major swimming events - the Fina World Championships last year and the Fina World Cup.

Ali acknowledged that more needs to done to promote volleyball in the UAE and hoped this competition would serve as a catalyst.

"We need to see more strong teams so that volleyball could be promoted in the UAE and Dubai specially. It would help to give our national team competition so we have a solid team for the future," he said. 

The UAEVA conducts the Rashid International Volleyball Tournament annually which was won by Australia this year.

He said they will announce programmes to popularise the event once the organising committee is formed later this month.

On March 10 there will be a Volley Day to promote awareness of volleyball.

Since the first hosting of the Asian Volleyball Championships in 1975, Japan has been the most successful by winning the title a record seven times, followed by South Korea four times, China on three occasions and Australia, Iran and Kazakhstan once each.

Iran will arrive as the defending champions following their 3-1 win against China when the tournament was held in Tehran earlier this year.
 

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