Preview of the Asia 2012 Olympic Games Beach Volleyball qualification tournament
Wonderful beach volleyball activity is in full swing as Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) is hosting the qualification Tournament for 2012 Olympic Games Beach Volleyball Championship in London. In this connection, the Continental Beach Volleyball Cup will be held next week on 23rd September, 2010. The teams have been announced which will be competing for the top spots. A total of 41 countries including Northern Marian Island and Tuvalu will be on the board for this fun-packed Beach Volleyball tournament. Three 2012 Olympic Games vacant spots are the main attraction for teams playing in the qualification tournament.
The Continental Beach Volleyball Cup is basically an Olympic qualifying event and it completes its run in two years. Teams from five different continents will be playing different matches and winners will qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games. Some of the teams have already been allotted berths in event on account of their outstanding performance and better world rankings.
According to rules and set pattern of the game, teams have been divided into zones and sub-zone for their respective competitions. The teams have been engaged in tough practice sessions and coaches have a great responsibility on their shoulders. Techniques, tactics and strategies are being formulized.
Officially, the tournament will start with the sub-zonal competitions in all five zones of the AVC. Eastern Asia, South-eastern, Central and Western Asia and Oceania are the five zones. Since the players will come from different parts of the world, it is most likely that matches will be organised in accordance with their religious affiliations. Only Eastern, South-Eastern and Oceania will feature the double-gender matches. There will be only men’s competitions in the Asian and Central Asian zones.
The teams which will perform better, they will obviously attain better status. Somehow, the original seeding will established by AVC. The AVC National Federation ranking points will define the teams’ standings. Besides this, two countries from each sub-zonal tournament will qualify for the next round. The sub-zonal tournaments will be followed by the zonal phase, which is scheduled to run from July 1, 2011 to June 17, 2012.
Indian city Nagapattinam has the honour to host the first sub-zonal tournament. Teams from Sri-Lanka, Maldives and India will open the AVC Continental Beach Volleyball Cup.
On the other hand, Northern Mariana will also host one leg of the sub-zonal competitions. The beach volleyball pairs from Guam, Papua New Guinea and Australia will hit the sands in Northern Mariana. The beach volleyball force from Tuvalu Island will travel to Vanuatu for the first round matches. They will compete with the hosts, Fiji and the Solomon Islands. The venue has been decided but tournament dates are yet to be determined by AVC.
In the zonal tournaments, five matches will be played in each zone. Eastern, South-Eastern, Western and Central zones will be competing in the tournament with four teams but Oceania will be playing with six teams. The competitions will determine top three countries from each tournament, which will advance to the final showdown of the Continental Cup.
These top three teams from zonal tournaments will be joined by 13 other teams in the final phase of the championship. The hosts will automatically get a spot in the final phase but if the host country is already in the top three qualifiers, the fourth ranked country will be promoted to the next stage. The final phase of the game will last for five days and each country will play against other country in the squad.
The final stage will reveal the top three positions. The victorious pair will get a place at the London 2012 Olympic Games, while second and third placed teams will be moved to the FIVB Beach Volleyball World cup.
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