Proliga winner won't go to AVC Cup: PBVSI
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The 2003 Proliga winner will not represent Indonesia in the fifth Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Cup men's volleyball club championship, according to a top official of the Indonesian volleyball governing body here on Friday.
The AVC Cup will be staged at the Bung Karno Indoor Tennis court in Jakarta from May 20 through May 25, featuring the eight best Asian clubs from China, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Qatar and Indonesia, who is hosting the event.
Despite having its own national professional volleyball league, Proliga, the Volleyball Association of Indonesia (PBVSI) has decided not to send the Proliga winning team to the AVC Cup.
"The AVC Cup will be part of our volleyball activities after Proliga, but we have decided that the club representing Indonesia will comprise of select players from the national training center and the best players from the Proliga clubs," PBVSI chairwoman Rita Subowo said at a media conference.
With the next Southeast Asian (SEA) Games to commence in Vietnam this December, Rita said that they did not want to miss the opportunity to use the Asian Cup as a warm-up event to the Vietnam meet.
"It's not that we don't appreciate the league winner. It's because we have a long-term goal -- Vietnam -- that we will opt to select a team which will also go to the SEA Games," she said.
It is also for the sake of the SEA Games commitment that PBVSI had opted against foreign players in the AVC Cup, although a maximum of two will be allowed.
Proliga, which currently has six men's and six women's teams, will complete its 2003 season in April. The selected players will undergo a three-week training under the tutelage of Chinese coach Li Qiujiang.
The league, whose clubs are allowed to use foreign players in their matches, has just reached mid-season, and before rounding off this season, an All-Star game will be played in Yogyakarta on Sunday.
The game will pit team Kratingdaeng against Alkaline, both in the men's and women's categories.
Star players from three Jakarta-based clubs -- Monas, Phinisi and Sananta -- comprise the men's Kratingdaeng team, while their Alkaline opponents are made up of players from Surabaya Flame, Bandung Tectona and Yogya Gunadarma.
The women's All-Star game will pitch star players from Jakarta Monas, Jakarta Phinisi and Gresik Phonska on one side against those from Bandung Artdeco, Bandung Tectona and Yogya Gunadarma.