AVC Men’s Volleyball Challenge Cup from September 15 to 22
(From left): Navin Pieris, Head of Broadband and Fixed Telecommunications, Dialog, Amali Nanayakkara, Group Chief Marketing Officer, Dialog, Faiszer Musthapha, Minister of Sports, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Minister of Power and Renewable Energy and President, SLVB and A. S. Nalaka, General Secretary, SLVB
Eight Asian countries will take part in the AVC Men’s Volleyball Challenge Cup Tournament which would take place from September 15 to 22 at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium in Colombo.
This inaugural event would be conducted by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) and organised by the Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation (SLVB) and sponsored by Dialog.
The teams participating in the tournament are Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia (Group ‘A’) and Iraq, UAE, Mongolia and Bangladesh (Group ‘B’).
President Maithripala Sirisena will be the Chief Guest for the opening ceremony of the tournament while Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be the Chief Guest for the closing ceremony.
The official launching ceremony for the event took place on Wednesday (15) at the Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo under the patronage of Sports Minister Faiszer Musthapha and Amali Nanayakkara, Group Chief Marketing Officer, Dialog.
Minister Musthapha said that volleyball has developed well in Sri Lanka and that Sri Lanka could gain a lot of skill by competing in international tournaments of this nature.
Sri Lanka are currently placed 14th in the Asian Rankings and the Minister hoped that
Sri Lanka would advance into the eighth position.
There are 63 Sports Associations currently registered with the Sports Ministry and the Minister said he has no hesitation in naming volleyball as the most committed sport in the island.