President Graça talked about the development of an Oceania Volleyball Federation and Snow Volleyball during the meeting with the media
Krakow, Poland, July 16, 2016 – FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça F° hosted key members of the world’s sports business press during a round table at the FIVB Volleyball World League Finals on Saturday to discuss the exciting innovations and latest cutting edge technology that the FIVB will use, some for the very first time, at the Olympic Games in Rio as well as share recent developments in the sport.
Representatives of the BBC, Inside The Games, Sport Business and Sport Intern as well as France’s L’Equipe and Brazil’s O Globo all met with the President to speak about the technologies showcased at the 2016 FIVB World League Finals in Krakow, Poland that are going to be used at the 2016 Olympic Games, including the Volleyball Challenge System, electronic score sheets for volleyball and beach volleyball and the electronic team and referee tablets for the volleyball.
President Graça said: “The FIVB is committed to improve the resources available to referees to assist the decision making process and ensure the game is absolutely fair to the athletes’ actions. The Volleyball Challenge system is a great example of such an improvement that allows teams to request a review of a decision. This system has been tested at many international competitions and we are delighted it will be used in Rio.”
President Graca also advised the media that volleyball is now in its golden era with the great success of both volleyball and beach volleyball at London 2012, the FIVB Volleyball World Championships 2014 and the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships The Netherlands 2015; and the bright expectations put forward towards Rio 2016, the FIVB Volleyball World Championships in 2018 and Tokyo 2020 with the sport being extremely popular in both countries.
“Volleyball has witnessed unprecedented worldwide growth over the past few years. The sport is expanding and attracting many more fans of all generations around the world and we should use the momentum to reach our strategic goals one of which is to move volleyball from group 2 to group 1 in the IOC rankings.”
The future development of the sport was also discussed with the potential plans to welcome the Oceania Volleyball Federation into the FIVB and introduce the new discipline, called snow volleyball, into the sporting map.
“The FIVB is looking forward to provide new opportunities for nations as well as the sport itself. Our vision is to become the number one family sport entertainment in the world and we are always keen to welcome new members into our federation as well as develop the sport to attract people of all ages around the world to play the game in all different formats and locations.”