The International Federation de Volleyball (FIVB) is looking forward to having great success for volleyball and beach volleyball in the Beijing Olympics, said FIVB president Dr. Ruben Acosta on Thursday.
"We are very excited about the Beijing Olympics coming very fast, " Acosta told Xinhua. "In Athens we had more than 3.5 billions of TV viewers for volleyball and beach volleyball. I sincerely hope that in Beijing the TV viewers will reach 4 billions."
"We hope to have every session full of spectators, for volleyball and beach volleyball, but most of all, to have many TV networks worldwide to broadcast beach volleyball and volleyball, that's our main objective," Acosta added. "If the teams and players perform at their best, I have no doubt our sports will be among the top in TV networks broadcasting."
The FIVB president predicted that defending Olympic champion China, who slipped to a disappointing fifth finish at last year's World Championship, would still be a strong contender for the gold medal of the women's volleyball.
"China is still among the top teams in the world," said Acosta. "Now maybe they are preparing, trying to find new strategies, but China will be a strong contender for the gold medal."
"I think the biggest challenge for China will come from Russia and Italy, and I think if the USA team keeps training and controls the attitude of the players, they can be a big surprise in China."
According to Acosta, strong competition among women's volleyball teams has boosted the development of the sport.
"Competition in women's volleyball will be very, very strong, much more stronger than in many other women's sports," Acosta said. "High quality for most of the teams is the quality that have allowed volleyball to be in the top of broadcasting in the Olympic Games."
Acosta also said that he was surprised by Chinese women's uprising in beach volleyball.
"I have not expected them to play at so good level, now they are always in top three or four," he said. "That means China could also be a contender for the gold medals (in beach volleyball). It will be a bit difficult, but in theory they can. The top favorites will be the United States and Brazil, but they will be fighting."
The FIVB is planning to introduce in the Beijing Olympics a new type of balls, which had received very positive feedback from players and referees in test using.
"Team Brazil said they liked it very much and it's a ball that the players like to feel. They are very happy and satisfied with the feeling it creates in hands," said Acosta. "We also received feedback from Serbia, it's also very positive and they like it very much."
"The referees have made comment that the ball is really fantastic. We hope to receive more feedback and I am very optimistic about the possibility for the ball that we will use for the first time in the Olympic Games in Beijing."
Besides the introduction of new balls, the FIVB is also considering other changes for the sport and the organization in the near future.
"We are trying to solve one problem of the substitutions of players, not to make it too long," said Acosta. "We have also been studying the possibility of moving the attack line a little behind."
"We will have reforms for the FIVB structure," he added. "We are already preparing different proposals, concerning not only the composition of the FIVB, but also in modifying some of our internal rules to facilitate the participation of more people."
Source: Xinhua
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