Qatar Volley ball Association (QVA) and Indian Sports Centre (ISC) are jointly organising the first Inter-Community Beach Volleyball Festival for two days at Al Gharafa beach volleyball facility (Qatar Beach Volleyball Academy). The festival will start on January 11.
This was announced in a press conference jointly held by QVA and ISC at the association’s office yesterday. The press conference was mainly addressed by QVA Technical Director Hussain Imam Ali, QVA Beach Volleyball Expert Roberto Reggiani, ISC President Nilangshu Dey, and ISC General Secretary Mohd Habibun Nabi.
Addressing the media persons, QVA Technical Director Hussain Imam Ali said, “I am thankful to our main partner, the ISC for co-operating with the QVA in organising this event. The beach volleyball festival will be organised on January 11 and 12. This event is going to be a record breaking tournament. There are about 30 teams taking part in the tournament from communities of 14 different countries. We are very happy and hope that this event will continue in future. I am speaking on behalf of QVA President Ali Ghanim al-Kuwari and we look forward to have increased inter-communities interaction. There are two more volleyball events coming up in Qatar: one in February and one in March.”
Giving details of the festival, ISC President Dey said, “We are going to have a mega event this weekend. This is first event of its kind where we are going to make a link between the QVA, all expatriate communities in Qatar and Qataris. We call it a festival because we want all communities in Qatar to come to the tournament and support their teams during matches. I also thank the QVA for supporting this event.”
He said, “It is a breakthrough in process of promoting sports in different communities living in Qatar. We have encouraged all communities to take part in the tournament with their teams. As many as 30 teams from 14 different countries are taking part in the tournament. The countries are Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Nepal, Ghana, Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sudan, India, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Japan, and Qatar. The teams have been divided into 10 pools with three teams in one pool. We have kept it open with no maximum number of teams. To encourage people to come and play beach volleyball, any number of teams from any community can take part in the tournament.”
“Initial matches will be on league basis, followed by knock outs. The matches will be played on January 11 from 6.30pm to 9.30pm. On Friday, the matches will be between 8.30am and 11am and then 1.30pm to 6pm. This event will be a qualifying tournament for players from different communities to participate in Qatar Open Beach Volleyball tournament shortly. The ISC appreciates the QVA for organising the event and encouraging different communities to build a healthy sporting environment in Qatar in line with the country’s vision of being a hub for international sports and games,” Dey said.
He added, “A grand inaugural ceremony for the festival will take place on January 11 at 6.30pm. The ceremony will include cultural shows by Indian, Filipino and other communities. A spectacular march past by all participating countries, led by Qatar, will be there. Various stalls of food from participating countries will also be there to make it a festival environment to attract families of various communities. Ambassadors of different countries and QVA senior officials will grace the inaugural ceremony. The prize distribution ceremony will be held on Friday at 5pm. We will also have a fan zone where different countries will have stalls of their cuisines and cultures. So far we have six countries confirming to have their stalls and we encourage all countries to be part of the fan zone.”
Roberto Reggiani said, “A large number of players will take part in the tournament and it is going to be a very positive event. I will insist on all teams that they should not be late. There are going to be number of matches so little delay can affect the whole tournament. We have made strong regulations. If a team is late for five minutes, they can lose one set of a game and if a team is late for 10 minutes, the team can lose a game.”