Indoor stadium boost for volleyball ahead of Nationals
The trophy for the Munchee National Volleyball Championship was unveiled at the press conference held under the patronage of SLVF president Ranjith Siyambalapitiya and officials of CBL - Pic by Priyantha Wickramaarachchi
Sri Lanka’s national sport Volleyball was given a massive boost during the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic when they received a dedicated indoor stadium for the sport in Galle while Ceylon Biscuits Limited (CBL) announced that it would be sponsoring the National Volleyball Championship for the 13th consecutive year.
“Our responsibility for developing Sri Lanka’s volleyball standards is boosted by the support we receive from Munchee,”said Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, President of the Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation (SLVB) and Deputy Speaker of Parliament.
He also profusely thanked Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa for his instant response to their request for an indoor courts which was a long-felt need.
“Although volleyball is an indoor sport, we have 40,000 outdoor courts. The biggest challenge is when we go for international tournaments, where competitions are held indoors. We had only one discussion with the new minister but within a month we got what we have been dreaming of for years. We got a sports complex in Galle district complete with an indoor stadium, grounds and a swimming pool,” said Siyambalapitiya, who said Sri Lanka has risen up in the volleyball world rankings during the last three years.
“There are 222 countries playing volleyball in the world, even more than football (218). So you can imagine the competition and challenges Sri Lanka faces. We were ranked 112 ten years ago and when I took over our rank was 77th. Now we are placed 60th in the world and among the top ten countries,” he declared, thanking the stakeholders of the sports like Munchee for their progress.
The Munchee National Volleyball Championship will be conducted in two categories – Super League and Novices men and women – from October 15. The closing date of entries for the Novices tournament is October 16. The Super League comprises of eight men’s teams and six women’s teams.
The men’s Super League teams are SL Army, SL Air Force, SL Navy, SL Police, NYSC, Ceylon Electricity Board and SL Port Authority, while the women’s teams SL Army, SL Air Force, SL Navy, Ports Authority, Hirdramani SC and Rathanapala SC, Mahausweva.
The round robin stage of the Super League will be worked off from November 7 to 11 at the Galle SLVB Indoor Stadium at Dadella. The first round of the Novices tournament will be held from October 15 to November 15. The finals of both the tournaments will be held on November 28 at the NYSC indoor stadium in Maharagama.