PNVF President Ramon “Tats” Suzara and Quezon City Vice Mayor Gian Sotto, representing Mayor Joy Belmonte, pose during Tuesday’s Volleyball Nations League press conference at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
CEBU CITY, Philippines—It’s all systems go for the Week 2 of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) as volleyball powerhouses in Thailand and Japan arrived on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, for their respective campaigns in the VNL Quezon City women’s leg at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on June 14 to 19.
The Philippines, through the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF), is hosting this major international volleyball tournament for the first time.
Aside from the women’s event, the VNL men’s competition will take place from June 21 to 26 at the same venue.
“The VNL is only the top 16 teams in the world. So, we are not there, but I hope someday, we will be there, and we will be a world-class team like Thailand,” said PNVF President Ramon “Tats” Suzara through a press release.
Japan, which went perfect in four matches in the opening week in Shreveport-Bossier City in United States, leads the women’s cast, which also includes Tokyo Olympics gold medalist United States, Belgium, Thailand, China, Bulgaria, Poland and Canada.
Despite the stunning five-set loss to the Thais in Ankara, Turkey, the Chinese hold second place at 3-1 (win-loss) with 10 points. Also sporting a 3-1 record, Americans are sitting in fourth place with nine points.
Thailand and Poland, with identical 3-1 records, have eight points each, Canada tallied a 2-2 slate, while Belgium and Bulgaria will head into the Quezon City leg with a 1-3 card.
Fan favorite Japan banners the men’s cast, which also has Argentina, Slovakia, Netherlands, France, China, Italy and Germany.
Suzara, in a press conference on Tuesday, said that Thailand and Japan arrived ahead to play a friendly match against the women’s squad of the PNVF this weekend at the Filoil Flying V Center.
The Filipina squad faces Thailand on Saturday while on Sunday, they take on Japan. In addition, the PNVF’s men’s national team will also play against Japan on June 16 and Germany on June 27.
/bmjo
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