FIVB pay tribute to Honorary President Jizhong Wei

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, December 15, 2013 – The FIVB Executive Committee approved key initiatives during its annual meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland to continue the vibrant vision and direction of the FIVB under the leadership of President Dr. Ary S. Graça F° towards a dynamic and modern era with the focus on providing opportunities for player participation. 

The FIVB Executive Committee meeting opened with President Graça praising the members and the FIVB federations for their dedication in taking volleyball and beach volleyball on a new path with transparency, innovation and technology key principles.

“Everybody has worked hard this year,” he said. “I visited all the continents and I participated in all the Confederations Congresses to talk with everybody, to exchange ideas and there I saw that people are embracing progress and change which is being undertaken.”

President Graça paid tribute to FIVB Honorary Life President Jizhong Wei for his work as an FIVB Board of Administration member from 1986 to 2008, Executive Committee member from 1996 to 2008, FIVB President from 2008 to 2012 and the work he continues to do in his honorary role, by unveiling his portrait inside the Presidential Hall at the FIVB head office.

The Executive Committee began by approving the following key proposals from the Beach Volleyball Commission:

1) To introduce an FIVB BVB Grand Slam Final, held annually at the end of the Grand Slam season which will include the participation of the eight best teams as per the season’s FIVB Grand Slam Ranking, with a country quota of two teams per national federation and with prize money of $500,000 for both genders.

2) To introduce an Under 17 category of the Age Group World Championships.

3) To hold the Age Group World Championships every two years and alternate with the schedule of volleyball.

4) To allow coaches to sit behind the players’ bench to provide support for the young athletes at the FIVB Beach Volleyball Age Group World Championships and Beach Volleyball Continental Cup. The accredited coach may interact with his/her players only during warm-up, time-outs, change of set and the switch of the court.

5) The FIVB to invest up to $2.5m in the first and second phase of the 2014-2016 Beach Volleyball Continental Cup towards participating national federations, based on the level of participating category 1, 2 and 3 national federations. The FIVB will pay the financial support only if a Confederation involves a minimum 60 % of its affiliated national federations.

The FIVB Executive Committee also approved the proposals from the Sports Council, which had met on Friday and Saturday, including the new 2014-2017 volleyball calendar as well as the introduction of the new innovative technology including the Challenge System for all FIVB events in 2014. They also approved the qualification criteria process for the Club World Championships and the city of Omaha, USA as the host of the World Grand Prix Finals in 2015.

Other approved proposals from the Sports Events Council included the move to provide five separate world rankings for the U18, U19, U20, U21 and U23 age group categories in addition to the senior world rankings as well as approving the Age Group World Championships structure such as:

FIVB Volleyball Girls U18 & Boys U19 World Championships –20 teams

FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 & Men’s U21 World Championships – 16 teams

FIVB Volleyball Men’s and Women’s U23 World Championships – 12 teams

Meanwhile, the FIVB Executive Committee approved the Treasurer’s report and the 2013 accounts’ report and balance sheet (January – September 2013) in addition to approving the tentative 2014 Budget for proposal to the Board of Administration, which includes plans for a proposed underground extension to Château Les Tourelles in 2014 for an innovative International Volleyball Museum and Hall of Fame.

The members observed a minute silence in memory of former FIVB Vice President Dr. B. Sivanthi Adityan of India who passed away earlier this year.