Livoli to kick off in Senayan next week: Officials

Livoli to kick off in Senayan next week: Officials

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Volleyball Association (PBVSI)
will stage the second leg of the Samator 2000 Indonesian
Volleyball League (Livoli) in the Senayan Basketball Hall next
week, officials revealed on Friday.

Samator club of Semarang and Petrogres club of Gresik, East
Java, currently the top men's and women's division with 12 points
each after the first series which was held in Surabaya from Oct.
8 until Oct. 14.

"Eight men's clubs and seven women's clubs will fight for the
four spots in the final for each division in January 2001. We
expect the competition will be even tougher than it was in the
first series," chairman of the organizing committee Hany Surkati
said.

The league will run from Nov. 14 to Nov. 18.

"The organizing committee provides Rp 20 million (US$2,162)
for each series and Rp 50 million total prize money for the final
four. We also provide a Rp 3 million fee for each participating
club," he added.

Hany was speaking in a press conference.

PBVSI's tournament division head, Ali Thaher, said the league
was using a round-robin system with the ultimate match between
the best clubs.

"We adopted the system from the Olympic's volleyball events.
It's to add excitement for the spectators," he said.

Hany also said in the women's division, PTPN X club did not
make any official announcement of their withdrawal from the
league.

"PBVSI has asked the club about its participation but they
haven't given us an official response. We don't know what the
reasons are but we had to impose strict sanctions on the club,"
he said.

"We fined PTPN X club Rp 10 million and also banned the club
from taking part in the league for two years. Like it or not, we
must uphold the regulations," he added.

He said if the club had decided not to participate in the
league, it could have been replaced by other interested clubs.

"There were several clubs of lower ranks who had wanted to
join the league. This meant PTPN X had blocked the other clubs'
chances to be in the league," Hany said.

"If the club had financial problems, it shouldn't have
registered in the first place. We have yet to receive their
official reason," he added, while saying PBVSI provided a subsidy
of 50 percent for board and lodging for all clubs. (nvn)