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He said if the club had decided not to participate in the league, it could have been replaced by other interested clubs.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