Dubai: A total of 24 teams have confirmed for the 17th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championships, to be held in Dubai from September 28 to October 6.
Held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman, Dubai Sports Council, the event will be organised by the UAE Volleyball Association (UAE VA) under the auspices of the Dubai Sports Council (DSC).
The nine-day competition will be held simultaneously at the Hamdan Sports Complex and the Shaikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Indoor Sports Hall of Al Nasr Club. The indoor halls at Al Ahli, Al Shabab and Al Wasl Club will be used as training venues for participating teams prior and during the tournament.
The 24 participating teams have already been divided into eight groups of three countries each with the winners advancing to the knockout stages of the competition at the end of the preliminary rounds.
The entire competition will witness four rounds for a total of 72 matches, with the first round of eight groups of three teams each playing each other to decide positions in their respective pools.
The second round of matches will consist of a play-off to decide the top 16 teams, after which there will be a draw of lots to place the teams from position 1 to 8 in the quarter-finals scheduled to be held on October 4. The finals, play-offs for the third place and the teams classification will be held on October 6.
While the UAE has been put in Group A as hosts of the competition, the other groups are being headed by teams as per their international rankings.
Australia heads Group B after being the highest ranked by the FiVB at No.11, followed by defending champions Iran in Group C ranked No.14 and China heading Group D ranked No.16.
Group E is headed by Japan ranked at No.19, South Korea is at the top of Group F at No.24, Group G is headed by India at No.30, while Group H is headed by Pakistan at No.41.
At the end of the round-robin matches, the teams will advance to the knockout stages based on number of matches won, match points, sets ratio and points ratio.
As per FiVB regulations, any match won 3-0 or 3-1 will get three points for the winning team and no points for the loser. In case the match has a 3-2 result, then the winner will get two points while the losing team will be awarded one point.
