Int’l volleyball tournament kicks off in Bac Ninh province

The Vietnamese side is represented by leading domestic clubs, namely Kinh Bac – Bac Ninh, LienVietPostBank, VTV Binh Dien Long An and Tien Nong Thanh Hoa, while the guests include China’s Fujian and Shanghai Fudan, Kazakhstan U23s and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The eight participants are divided into two groups and are competing in a round robin format to decide the top two teams from each group that will advance to the semifinals.

According to Tran Duc Phan, Deputy Director of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, the week-long event, which features quality invitees, especially the Fujian and DPRK teams, provides a good opportunity for the Vietnamese players to gain experience and showcase their talent to vie for slots in the national women’s volleyball team.

Concerning the prize structure, the tournament offers US$40,000 up for grabs, the largest sum in the system of women’s volleyball competitions in Vietnam at present. The champions will receive a cash prize of US$15,000, while respective stakes of US$10,000, US$6,000, US$3,000 and US$2,000 will be presented to the runners-up, the third-placed team, the fourth-placed team and the fair-play team.

Seven individual prizes worth US$2,000 will also be awarded.

The tournament is part of events under the ‘Visiting the land of Quan Ho (Love Duet) singing’ festival 2019, which marks a decade since the folk art form won UNESCO recognition as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity (2009-2019).

On the opening day of competition, LienVietPostBank and Bac Ninh-Kinh Bac brilliantly thrashed Kazakhstan U23s and Shanghai Fudan, respectively, by the same score of 3-0.

LienVietPostBank (in white) beat Kazakhstan U23s 3-0 in their opener on Friday.