DUBAI — The organising committee of the FootVolley World Cup 2011 has started intensive preparations to host this international event to be held for the first time in the area under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, with the support of the General Authority for Youth & Sports Welfare and under the supervision of Dubai Sports Council and UAE Volleyball Association respectively.
The Championship to be organised from October 27-29 at the Jumeirah Beach Residence, the Walk – one of Dubai Properties Group’s destinations.
The committee has signed a contract with a specialised constructional company to construct pitches to host the Championship’s matches.
The work to start shortly to construct main playground accommodating 3,000 seats along with other two playgrounds, with a capacity of 500 seats for each.
On the other hand, Mr. Jamal Saif, the Championship’s Director visited Rio de Janeiro and held a meeting with Ms. Nasinha the President of International FootVolley Federation. He reviewed latest preparations & arrangements, carried out by the Organizing Committee.
The Organising Committee is currently exerting utmost efforts to organise the Championship in such a distinctive level that copes with the high status of UAE and Dubai in particular, which has already hosted greatest international sports championships & forums during the last years; part of which were: Beach Football World Cup – 2009 / World Swimming Championships – 2010.
Jamal stressed that the Organizing Committee will utilize the upcoming Championship to promote & extend the practice of the game.
Jamal Saif revealed that the Championship to be held with participation of 32 teams from 27 countries, UAE at the forefront along with: Brazil, Argentina, Iran, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, United States of America, Canada, Spain, Germany, Italy, England, Austria, Czech Republic, Russia, Belgium, Estonia, France, Croatia, Portugal, Poland, Holland, Switzerland, Ukraine, Costa Rica, Singapore and Thailand.
The Championship also to be joined with four ladies’ teams from Brazil and thus the event is expected to attain more success.
UAE National Team Starts Training.
The UAE National Team has already started semi-daily training sessions at Al-Mamzar Park. The UAE National Team is keen to present a distinctive performance that reflects the high status of UAE, taking into consideration that the Team has already participated in several world championships; the last of which was the championship hosted at Salvador city in Brazil. The Team was the only representative for Arabs in that event, held with participation of 28 teams. The Team has attained distinctive results vs. Spain, Argentina & USA in the first stage of the competition before losing vs. Brazil – the World’s champion – in the second stage.
FootVolley has become one of the fasting growing sports gaining international recognition and popularity over the past years; and is played according to the same field rules of beach volleyball but without using hands. The game has attracted many international football’s stars especially in Brazil – from where the game has been launched in 1965.