The Philippines will host another major international volleyball tournament—the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Cup for Women from August 21 to 29 at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
Nine of the top Asian teams—with the Philippines as the 10th squad as host—are taking part in the tournament’s seventh edition that was originally scheduled for 2020 but was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Team Philippines will be represented by top players from the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, according to Philippine National Volleyball Federation President Ramon “Tats” Suzara.
“This is a strong tournament and our young players, who we vision as the future of Philippine volleyball, will get the needed exposure against the continent’s best teams,” said Suzara, whose PNVF successfully hosted a Men and Women leg of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) only last June at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
The Philippines is bracketed in Pool A with reigning champion China, South Korea, Iran, and Vietnam. Pool B is composed of 2018 runner-up Japan, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei and Australia.
“Just like the VNL, Filipino volleyball fans will again be treated to world-class volleyball action considering that world-ranked teams China, Japan, Iran, South Korea and Thailand are playing,” Suzara said.
The preliminaries are set from Aug. 21 to 25 with the Philippines facing Vietnam on Aug. 21, China on Aug. 23, Iran on Aug. 24 and South Korea on Aug. 25, all scheduled at television prime time 7 p.m.
The top five teams from each pool will advance to the knockout quarterfinals set on Aug. 27 with the semifinals set for August 28 and the qualification matches and final on Aug. 29.
China won five of the tournament’s six editions—Nakhon Ratchasima 2008, Taicang 2010, Shenzhen 2014, Vinh Phuc 2016 and Nakhon Ratchasima 2018. Thailand broke the streak in Almaty 2012.
Details on ticket sales and prices will be announced soon. – gb
