AVC impressed, ready to assist Indonesia

AVC impressed, ready to assist Indonesia

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Last year's disappointing performance by the Indonesian
volleyball team at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games spoke for
itself, but the recently concluded Proliga, the inaugural
professional volleyball league, seemed to impress Asian board
members.

Representatives from 18 countries are currently holding a
congress of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) in Jakarta.

The three-day congress, organized by the Indonesian Volleyball
Association (PBVSI) at Hotel Mulia, will end Thursday.

"PBVSI has succeeded in staging a league for men's and women's
teams with a great number of spectators attending matches. We are
very impressed by their achievement," AVC President Jizhong Wei
told reporters on the sidelines of the convention.

The fact that PBVSI could operate without relying on subsidies
from the government, according to Wei, was another achievement.

"They raised all the funds themselves, without any government
support. Some federations in many countries are not able to do
that," he said, accompanied by his Indonesian counterpart Rita
Subowo.

The 65-year-old Chinese man, who was inaugurated as the AVC
president last September, said that with local competition
actively organized, Indonesia's volleyball federation deserved
assistance from the world's volleyball governing body FIVB and
AVC, in the form of a coaching course and the provision of
coaches for national team.

The Proliga, which was wrapped up on April 7, was joined by
eight men's and eight women's teams with Bandung Tectona and
Jakarta Monas being the eventual winners in their respective
categories.

Foreign volleyballers featured in the matches, an
unprecedented breakthrough by PBVSI, which appeared to be an
added attraction for the country's crazed fans.

The three-month competition, which was rotated in five cities
every week, lured between 4,000 and 5,000 spectators at every
game, according to Rita.

"We had more than 10,000 spectators at the finals in Jakarta,"
he added.

The league was established against the backdrop of the
national team's disappointing performance in Kuala Lumpur, which
saw the men's squad, which had never before gone outside the top
two places, end up in fourth place for the first time.

Wei offered his moral support. "Perhaps, for the time being,
Indonesia has not achieved a great deal, but if they can maintain
the trend (Proliga), I'm sure they have the potential to
progress," he said, when separately interviewed by The Jakarta
Post later on in the day.

"Thailand was like Indonesia before. They were very weak. But
they mobilized interest among the public, and now they have a
good achievement," he said.

With assistance from FIVB which started seven years ago,
Thailand, particularly in the women's field, has molded itself as
one of the world's powerhouses.

It has been included in the eight-strong 2002 World Grand
Prix, which will start in July.