FIVB regrets loss of Vice President Yasutaka Matsudaira – Volleyball news
Yasutaka Matsudaira, who served at the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) for several years, passed away on December 31, 2011 in Japan.
Most recently, he performed his duties as the honorary vice-president of FIVB and formerly held the executive vice-president’s office for a long period. The FIVB expressed great sorrow and grief that legendary Yasutaka Matsudaira bid farewell to life. He
was 81 years old and lived most of his life in Japan.
The FIVB President Mr Jizhong Wei wrote a letter of condolence on Thursday, January 5 and disclosed his thoughts.
He said, “The whole FIVB family feels sadness at the loss of a faithful colleague and friend of ours. On behalf of the FIVB I express my deep condolences and sincere sympathy to Mrs Matsudaira. Mr Matsudaira devoted all his life and time to volleyball. He
made a tremendous contribution to the modernization of volleyball. He led the FIVB and AVC together with us to a new era of development. The FIVB and JVA are forever grateful for his contribution.”
Matsudaira was a true gentleman and devoted his life for the development of volleyball not only in Japan but all over the world. He was always in the front row to create awareness about the challenging sport of volleyball and greatly contributed to the development
of sport in Japan. The President of Japan Volleyball Association (JVA), Taizaburo Nakano, also expressed great concern about the tragic loss of his colleague for many years.
Nakano said that he received respect from around the world for his wonderful leadership qualities. He was a gifted person with charisma in his personality and was treasure in the volleyball world.
The deceased had a long-term relation with volleyball. Matsudaira represented Japan’s national team from 1954 to 1960. He was an active member of the team and contributed to Japan’s gold medal victory at the 1958 Asian Games.
After proving his skills as a player in the national team, he went for coaching. He shared his knowledge and experience of the game with the new crop of players. It was due to his visionary leadership that Japan clinched bronze at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic
Games, silver at the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games and also settled for gold at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.
Considering this knowledge of the game and his achievements, the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) offered him to take up the role of sports administrator. He became a FIVB executive vice-president in 1982 and then the first executive vice-president
in 1994.
He also helped Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) as president and held vice-president’s position at the Japanese Olympic Committee at the same time. Likewise, he served at the FIVB in many different roles. He was a mentor and will be remembered.
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