With an exciting season ahead, World ParaVolley President Barry Couzner showed his support in two separate occasions that mark a new era in World ParaVolley.
President Couzner flew to Dubai, UAE for the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) Conference & General Assembly held on 3-6 February 2019 to discuss the future of World ParaVolley before heading to Cairo, Egypt for the launch of ParaVolley Egypt on 7-9 February.
Photo: Morteza Mehrzadselakjani IPC Allianz Athlete of the Month award was recognised at the Asian Paralympic Committee Conference & General Assembly
ParaVolley Egypt begins new era
It’s a dawn of a new era for Egyptian volleyball as they launch ParaVolley Egypt which will serve as the nation’s federation from thereon in order to meet legal demands.
Couzner, along with Egyptian Minister of Youth and Sport Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, graced the momentous event which featured a five-set match between two top club men’s teams.
With the goal of getting on a higher level and garnering huge media attention, ParaVolley Egypt is eyeing on hosting major international sitting volleyball tournaments such as the 2019 African Championships, 2020 Intercontinental and 2022 World Championships. The federation also looks into staging an Arabic Sitting Volleyball Championship which will feature teams from the Middle East and Africa.
Egyptian ParaVolley teams have had success in recent major tournaments, with their men’s sitting team winning bronze at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games and finishing 6th at the 2018 World Championship. Their women’s counterpart, meanwhile, ranked 15th in the World Championship.
On the other hand, Couzner met with ParaVolley Africa executives, as well, to discuss the federations’ plans for the 2019-2020 season and other development plans.
ParaVolley success highlighted in APC General Assembly
Looking back at a successful 2018 season, the APC Conference & General Assembly focused on maintaining intensive preparation for future events.
With 37 representatives from different national federations present in the conference, Couzner laid out the plans for the upcoming Beach World Series Open event in Pingtan, China and its innovation to the sport such as the inclusion of mixed teams in the competition.
Couzner also looks into sending a coach to different nations without a sitting volleyball program to provide coaching courses and kickstart their own program.
Meanwhile, another story highlighted in the conference is the recent success of Iran in sitting volleyball. Recall that Iran reclaimed the men’s world championship title in July, which led to Morteza Mehrzadselakjani taking home the IPC Allianz Athlete of the Month award.
Apart from these, the APC bannered the success of recent events such as the 2018 Asian Para Games, which featured sitting volleyball tournaments and garnered huge media & audience record. Concerns from each national federation were also addressed in the general assembly, as well.