Looking for Brazilian coach to win Asian gold
The Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation (SLVB) has decided that during the coming 15 months in 2018 (from January onwards) a consultant coach from Brazil should be brought to Sri Lanka.
The SLVB and the Ministry of Sports are conducting talks at ambassadorial level to get down this coach. The main aim is to send two teams – men and women – for the South Asian Games Volleyball Championships to be held in Bangladesh in December, 2019. The exact dates are still to be confirmed.
Plans are in order to win Gold at this competition. The men’s and women’s pools will start training in January 2018. The plan is to complete pool selections in December this year.
Also the SLVB has decided not to take part in any foreign competitions. Their main aim is to get the Sri Lanka pools in readiness for the South Asian Volleyball Championships. After training for 11 months, in December, friendship tours are planned in order to get match experience during the month of December 2018.
In 2019 the teams will take part in several foreign tours, including the Asian Championships. The idea is to get the teams in top fettle and obtain match experience as possible targetting the SAG Volleyball Gold Medal.
In the history of the South Asian Games, volleyball Sri Lanka won a Gold medal in 1991 at the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games where the women’s team bagged a Gold. The men’s team has never won a Medal at the SAF or the SAG.
In the recent past Sri Lanka has taken part in three international competitions. The first was the Asian under 19 Boy’s VB Championships in Myanmar, where Sri Lanka bagged ninth spot from 11 countries, the second was the Asian under 23 men’s Championships in Iran. Sri Lanka were placed 10th out of 11 countries and the third was the Asian under 23 women’s VB Championships in Thailand, which is currently in progress and Sri Lanka is in 12 place, out of 13 countries. Sri Lanka has been unsuccessful in all three competitions having failed to reach the Super Eight Round. In order to train these teams the SLVB has spent Rs. 11.5 Million.
Another two tours are pending,. They are the 19th Asian Men’s Senior Volleyball Championships in Indonesia and the 19th Asian Women Senior Championships in the Philippines. Currently pool training is in progress at Torrington Square. There are 19 members in each pool. For these tours the estimated cost is Rs. 10 Million.
Officials of the SLVB state that the poor performances are due to strong teams such as China and Iran being classed into Sri Lanka groups.