FIVB Technical Supervisor Joep van Iersel is delighted with the high standards the maiden Qatar Open Beach Volleyball Tournament set.
Hosted jointly by the Qatar Volleyball Association and the Qatar Beach Volleyball Academy, the Qatar Open was held at Al Gharafa Club. The event was full of surprises and it climaxed with 14th seeds Holler and Schroder from Germany shocking second seeds Josh Binstock and Sam Schachter from Canada in the final by straight sets.
On the sidelines of the tournament, which came to an end on Saturday, Iersel talked about the first edition,”My impression about the first Qatar Open is very positive. Right from the moment when I arrived in Qatar, I was impressed first by the venue.
“The workers or volunteers, who were involved in the event, were good. In the beginning, they did not know what to do. But during the week, they improved. I am really very glad that everybody knew what to do and each did his job very well.”
“This is a new tournament. The referee delegates had come one day prior to the tournament. They held a training session for them for two days. It worked out very well,” he said while praising the local volunteers and workers.
Iersel also said he felt that Qatar was capable of holding something bigger than an Open event.”I think that the Qatar Volleyball Association, Doha and Qatar as a whole can manage more than just an Open event.”
“I don’t know how. But if you want to have a great tournament, you should also have women. They can come here and play in suitable dresses other than the bikinis. We have the FIVB approved dress code and they can adapt that. The dresses for the women’s event should not be a problem.”
He also added,”If there is a women’s tournament, you will have to play the event in the handball stadium with a capacity of about 3,000, just the double at Al Gharafa Club. You have every facilities here and it can be done very easily.
The FIVB official also said he was quite pleased with strong presence of the crowd during the matches.”I liked the crowd, which turned out in big numbers. I took picture of the crowd and sent it on Twitter. I got a message that کI don’t see any crowd and I think the chairs are empty.’
“Actually, everybody was in the white traditional dress and that led people to believe there was no one watching the matches! That was so nice and I really liked being here,” Iersel said with a big smile.
“I am really surprised by the massive number of spectators that came to enjoy the matches and cheer the players in the beach volleyball. That has been very positive factor about the Qatar Open,” said the Dutch.