AFTER a successful staging of two legs of the Volleyball Nations League last May, the Philippines will host another major international event in the Asian Volleyball Confederation Cup for Women set Aug. 21 to 29 at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
A total of 10 teams including an all-collegiate national squad are seeing action in the seventh edition of the nine-day tournament that was originally set two years ago but was canceled due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
“This is a strong tournament and our young players, who we vision as the future of Philippine volleyball, will get the needed exposure against the continent’s best teams,” said Philippine National Volleyball Federation president Ramon Suzara.
The country is bracketed in Pool A with reigning champion China, South Korea, Iran and Vietnam while Pool B is composed of 2018 runner-up Japan, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipai and Australia.
The preliminaries are set from Aug. 21 to 25 with the Philippines facing Vietnam on Aug. 21, China on Aug. 23, Iran on Aug. 24 and South Korea on Aug. 25, all scheduled at television prime time 7 p.m.
The top five teams from each pool will advance to the knockout quarterfinals set on Aug. 27 with the semifinals set for Aug. 28 and the qualification matches and final on Aug. 29.
China won five of the tournament’s six editions — Nakhon Ratchasima 2008, Taicang 2010, Shenzhen 2014, Vinh Phuc 2016 and Nakhon Ratchasima 2018.
Thailand broke the streak in Almaty 2012. — Joey Villar