FIVB recognition and biennial championships focus of CVC

Kolkata, Aug 2 (UNI) Seven years and three huddles later, the Commonwealth Volleyball Confederation (CVC) wants to regularise themselves as a formal unit and make the event a biennial feature in the Commonwealth calendar.

The Championship was first held in London in 1981.

Also on the cards are a women's championship and beach volleyball rourney if the organisers have their way.

Interacting with the media here today, CVC Chairman Control Committee and Executive vice-president Oceania zone Allan Brodie said, ''We are very happy with the way things have progressed here.

We plan to bring it back again here next time on.'' The Commonwealth Volleyball Confederation met for the first time after 1981, in Seville, Spain in 2000. After the initial idea germinated, the next meet took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2002 and thereafter in Porto, Portugal, in 2004 and India offered to revive the championship.

Asked about the huge time it took to revive the tournament, he said, ''Most of the commonwealth playing countries play Volleyball as a minor sport. In New Zealand for example it ranks 14 in the rank of sports and games played. We would now like to see it being considered as a spectator sport and more time devoted after it.'' ''With one-third of the FIVB consisting of Commonwealth countries we ought to revive the game and make it more spectator -friendly,'' he added.

He also said once the second championship is over, the CVC will also look for FIVB affiliation and formalise the structure of the Confederation.

''Now the rules are loosely placed and once we have the affiliation we can look to make the affair more formal,'' he added.

He also said it was the local organisers who had gone out of their way to accommodate Nigeria. ''If we adhered to the FIVB rules, they would not have been allowed,'' he said.

Brodie said Volleyball is the second highest revenue earner in the Olympics after athletics and beach volleyball could go a long way to boost the participation.

''It's easy for the organiser as each team has two players and 20 players meant 10 teams. Besides, being included in the Commonwealth means funding for the national bodies from government,'' he said.

Asked what kind of participation he expected in the next tournaments he said, ''I would like to take 10 top teams from across America, Latin America, Oceania, Asia and Africa. They play qualifiers and 10 top teams take part in the tournament.'' Kiwi coach Tony Natapu echoed Brodie's idea of the game being included in the Commonwealth Games as it would help get more funding so that the amateur organisation could look more structured.

Canadian coach Georges Laplante also felt that in order to get the tournament fresh boost they needed recognition and a formal structure in place.

He was also of the opinion that England should take more initiative in holding these games as it could be a part of the commonwealth then.

UNI