Shorts guys to 'Voli' in Jakarta

Shorts guys to 'Voli' in Jakarta

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Five countries, including Indonesia, will participate in the
Sampoerna Hijau Voli World U-185 Championship here at the Senayan
Indoor Stadium from Oct. 6 to Oct. 10.

Chief of the organizing committee Jetty Pattiasina said that
this would be the first men's volleyball competition in the world
which uses a height limit for the participants.

"I read in a survey report that approximately 75 percent of
the world's population is less than 185 centimeters (6 feet 2
inches) tall.

"Therefore, we should hold a competition that enables the
majority of the world's population to take part in the event,"
Jetty told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday.

Volleyball teams from Japan, Chinese Taipei, Russia and
Myanmar have confirmed their participation in the event, which
offers the Borobudur Cup but no prize money.

"Actually there were eight countries listed as the
competition's participants, but Thailand, Brazil and Georgia
withdrew from the event last week," Rita Subowo, chairman of the
Indonesian Volleyball Association (PBVSI) said.

Rita added that Brazil and Georgia canceled their
participations due to security reasons following the bombing of
the Australian Embassy in Jakarta on Sept. 9, while Thailand's
team only said it was not ready.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's team manager Zulfarshah admitted that
the team did not have proper training for the event after the
National Games (PON) held early this month.

"We've only had two weeks since PON and most of our players
were playing in PON, so it's difficult to gauge our chances,"
Zulfarshah said.

He also added that most of the players from the foreign teams
were relatively new so he could not predict, which of them would
be the local team's toughest opponent.

However, he was confident that Indonesia could beat Chinese
Taipei and Myanmar but was unsure about the team's chances of
defeating Russia and Japan.

"We won 3-2 over Chinese Taipei in a volleyball championship
in Qatar last year and we also won 3-0 over Myanmar at the SEA
Games in 2003," Zulfarshah said.

Although it would be difficult for Indonesia to win the event
against rivals Japan and Russia, Rita said that the main purpose
of holding this event was to promote the competition as FIVB's
regular competition in the future.

"We hope that FIVB will include this competition in its annual
agenda and we also hope that the U-185 competition will be
included in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, although it would
be in the form of an exhibition event," Rita said.

Rita also revealed the plan of making a similar competition
for women called the World U-175 Volleyball Championship in 2005.