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October 21,2004,-The Jamaica
Volleyball Association announced yesterday that
the International Federation of Volleyball
Federation (FIVB) has requested that Jamaica be
the venue for round one of World Championship
qualifiers for women's volleyball to be held in
mid-April.
The teams slated to compete
in this round include the Cayman Islands,
British Virgin Islands, the Netherlands Antilles
and host team Jamaica.
A release from the Jamaica
Volleyball Association welcomed the invitation.
"The association sees this as a
fantastic opportunity in helping to promote the
sport of volleyball in Jamaica," the release
said. Jamaica's technical director of
volleyball, Phillip Greenland, was reported as
saying, "after the teams' successful performance
at the recently concluded Caribbean
Championships in Barbados where they placed
second, the momentum is definitely on".
Jamaica's men's and women's teams
were in both finals in Barbados and both lost to
the host country.
According to the local
association, Jamaica's record in the world
championship can be described as "commendable"
as in 2001, the women's team advanced to round
two while the men lost out in round one.
"That has helped to place the
teams at 47th and 62nd respectively in the world
from 218 federations across the world," the
release said.
Round one of the qualifiers is
scheduled for April 15-17. The release noted
that the JaVA executive has already started to
"get things in place and has reportedly met with
teams from the accommodation, broadcast,
volunteer sectors to ensure that the three-day
event is successful".
Names for a local organising
committee (LOC) have been suggested and "those
letters will go to the respective persons who
will dedicate the next five to six months to
ensuring that these games are successful,"
according to president Carole Beckford. She also
noted that a patron for the games will be
announced by the first week in November, when
the LOC is also scheduled to meet.
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