Historic Board of Administration meeting in Lausanne

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, April 4, 2013 – The first FIVB Board of Administration meeting under the presidency of Dr. Ary S. Graça F° officially opened at the FIVB headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland on Thursday.

The two-day meeting, which includes the presence of FIVB Honorary Life President Mr Jizhong Wei and Honorary Executive Vice President and Board of Administration member Mr Theofanis Tsiokris, will see the Board focus on the proposals of the FIVB Commissions, which were reviewed by the FIVB Executive Committee on Wednesday, while also evaluating key ways to modernise the FIVB and the sport of volleyball.

President Graça opened the meeting by emphasising the important role each of the Board members have. “Your presence is very important, we created a base with Mr Wei, from now on though, it depends on us, it depends on you.

“Today we must compete with other sports. We must modernise, innovate and change. It is all about participation - in this meeting and also on the court. We must believe what is going to be the future.

“There is a lot of work to do so we can’t sit still. We must give opportunities all over the world. Like that we will reach our goals.”

Mr Wei also addressed the members: “Thank you for keeping me active in this family. But I am very happy to transfer the FIVB responsibility to a new team led by Dr. Ary Graça.

“During my time as FIVB President I didn’t bring any new principles, all these new principles were already in your mind for a long time. I helped make them public.

“Under the leadership of Dr. Ary Graça you will start a new era of the FIVB. It is time to accept this new concept.”

Since the election of President Graça at the FIVB Congress in Anaheim, USA in September, the new Board of Administration met briefly during the Congress but this week's two-day meeting is the first fully-fledged Board of Administration meeting.