Gunes Zehra of Turkey is in action during a match between Turkey and Italy at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League Finals Women in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu province, July 4, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xiang)
Volleyball world governing body FIVB will decide whether to reschedule the postponed Volleyball Nations League 2020 in coming weeks.
BEIJING, May 3 (Xinhua) -- A final decision on the Volleyball Nations League 2020 will be made in the coming weeks, according to International Federation de Volleyball (FIVB) general director Fabio Azevedo.
Originally slated for May to July in various cities around the world, the 2020 edition of the annual tournament has been postponed until after the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games due to the pandemic coronavirus (COVID-19). Following the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games to 2021, the FIVB has not decided on whether to make any change again.
"The Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2020 was postponed to protect the health and safety of our athletes, officials and fans. Following this, we have continued to regularly monitor the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic and follow the guidance of medical and international authorities while analyzing all possible scenarios for the VNL 2020," Azevedo told Xinhua in a recent written interview.
"Of course, we have remained in close consultation with the relevant National Federations and event organizers to evaluate their capacity to host and/or participate in events in the upcoming months should it be safe to host them. Following the careful analysis of all this information we will make a final decision on the VNL 2020 in the coming weeks, after consulting the VNL Council and the FIVB Board of Administration."
A screenshot of fivb.com.
Azevedo revealed that the FIVB was also reviewing the volleyball and beach volleyball calendars for 2021.
"We are looking at a number of different scenarios to ensure the best possible solution for players and fans alike, whilst taking into account the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. We cannot give more detail on specific events, but we are working on finalizing the calendars for 2021 and will inform stakeholders at a later stage. For example, the 2021 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships have recently been rescheduled for June 2022 in Rome, Italy due to changes to the global sports calendar. We are committed to finding the most suitable dates for all events in order to optimize preparation time for athletes and ensure that they can compete at their very best."
Chinese players celebrate during the Round Robin match between China and the United States at the 2019 FIVB Women's World Cup in Sapporo, Japan on Sept. 23 2019. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi)
Azevedo said the entire volleyball family was working together to meet all challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the sport.
"We are confident that volleyball as we know and love it will be back bigger and better than ever. In the meantime, all of our staff have been working from home in alignment with local government guidelines as we continue to work in close consultation with our stakeholders on various changes and adaptations," said Azevedo.
"We also encourage national federations to keep their athletes informed of the latest health advice and of any relevant updates regarding volleyball and beach volleyball. Additionally, we have continued to use our digital channels to offer regular and exciting content for our fans, such as our daily schedule of classic match replays." he added. ■
