FIVB to resolve volleyball row

MANILA, Philippines — The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) is set to meet with the “provisionally-affiliated” Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. (LVPI) and the “suspended” Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) next month in an effort to find a lasting solution to the long-running dispute in the country.

“Based on the decision taken by the FIVB board of administration in 2019, the FIVB intends to send its delegation to meet with the relevant stakeholders in the Philippines in February 2020,” FIVB general director Fabio Azevedo said in a letter to PVF president Boy Cantada.

Azevedo will be coming over together with Jizhong Wei, Cristobal Marte Hoffiz, Stephen Bock, and Kaime Lamboy for that meeting with the LVPI, PVF, the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Sports Commission.

LVPI president Joey Romasanta welcomed FIVB’s move to send a delegation and reiterated his group is ready to provide documents and meet the requirements to gain full membership status.

Azevedo sent the letter dated Jan. 13 to clarify things as both the LVPI and the PVF released 2020 calendar of events that included Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) tournaments, claiming the right to send delegations there.

According to Azevedo, the status of the two associations remain the same since 2015, when the FIVB board of administration provisionally affiliated the LVPI on the strength of its recognition from the Philippine Olympic Committee as the “sole governing body for volleyball in the country.”  

There were seperate proposals to expel the PVF and the LVPI but the FIVB World Congress refused to do so, recalled Azevedo, and as such, he said the PVF “would still be suspended” and the LVPI “would be provisionally accepted.”