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Central Luzon cities to host Asian Women's Championships

By Ivan Stewart Saldajeno

May 20, 2021, 8:43 am

<p><strong>VOLLEYBALL HOSTS.</strong> Pampanga Governor Dennis Pineda (center) and Bases Conversion and Development Authority Vice President Arrey Perez (right) meet with Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) President Ramon “Tats” Suzara. The PNVF has chosen the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga as the main arena for the tournament. <em>(Photo courtesy of PNVF)</em></p>

VOLLEYBALL HOSTS. Pampanga Governor Dennis Pineda (center) and Bases Conversion and Development Authority Vice President Arrey Perez (right) meet with Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) President Ramon “Tats” Suzara. The PNVF has chosen the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga as the main arena for the tournament. (Photo courtesy of PNVF)

MANILA – Three major cities in Central Luzon will be the host venues of the upcoming Asian Senior Women's Volleyball Championships from Aug. 29-Sept. 5.

The Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) has chosen the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga as the main arena for the tournament.

On the other hand, the Subic Gym and the Angeles University Foundation (AUF) Sports and Cultural Center will serve as secondary halls.

The three coliseums successfully hosted league bubbles over the past few months amid the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

Last year, the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center was the home of the National Basketball League finals, while the AUF Gym became the battleground of the Philippine Basketball Association's bubble season.

Earlier this year, the Subic Gym hosted the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League playoffs and the national team tryouts for the men's and women's indoor volleyball teams.

With both San Fernando and Angeles, Pampanga's central hubs, hosting the volleyball event, PNVF president Tats Suzara said that Governor Dennis Pineda is ecstatic about it and even asked his group to hold youth volleyball programs in the said province.

"Governor Pineda is excited and supportive to host the championship for the first time,” Suzara said. “He would like to have a grassroots program for the youth volleyball in Pampanga and asked the PNVF to help him with getting coaches.”

Suzara said the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center is undergoing renovation "to meet the international volleyball standards."

He continued that he will meet with Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairman Wilma Eisma to discuss Subic's own hosting.

The PNVF quickly stepped in to take over the Asian Senior Women's Volleyball Championships hosting chores after the city of Jiangmen in China begged off.

This will be the third time the Philippines hosted the event, also doing so in 1997 and 2017.

“We saw the opportunity and we grabbed it,” Suzara said.

The host nation will begin training its women's volleyball team by June.

All the 16 players who attended the national team tryouts on April 28 were inserted into the national team pool with the four remaining spots to be decided based on the other invited players' performance in the PVL Open Conference.

"We expect our young players in the national team to be promising and to have good experience before the SEA Games in Vietnam," said Suzara, who was recently named secretary of FIVB's newly-formed Volleyball Empowerment Commission for the term 2020-2024. (PNA) 

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