In a ceremony to finalize the groupings for the 13-team tournament, a lottery was held Wednesday afternoon at the Foton Showroom in Quezon City graced by the presence of Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. president Joey Romasanta, AVC marketing and development committee chairman Ramon “Tats” Suzara, and AVC technical delegate Jaksuwan Tocharoen of Thailand.
Luck favored local team Foton Tornadoes, the reigning Philippine Superliga Grand Prix champions, as they were situated in a light Group A that will feature the top club team of Vietnam and Hong Kong. “We like where we landed,” said Foton team manager Alvin Lu. “With this, we can now start our preparation for the tough grind ahead. We will complete our lineup next week and schedule our international training, probably in Thailand, very soon.”
GROUP A | GROUP B | GROUP C | GROUP D |
Foton (Philippines – Organizers) | Thailand (1st) | Japan (2nd) | China (3rd) |
Vietnam (7th) | North Korea (6th) | Kazakhstan (5th) | Chinese-Taipei (4th) |
| Hong Kong | Iran | Indonesia | Malaysia |
Turkmenistan |
Southeast Asian powerhouse Thailand will be in Group B, this year’s group of death, together with North Korea and Iran while Japan will be joining Kazakhstan and Indonesia in Group C. Group D, meanwhile, will be composed of China, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, and Turkmenistan.
Romasanta said he is also satisfied with the outcome of the drawing of lots and hopes that a successful participation will pave the way for the resurgence of Philippine volleyball in the international level.
PSL Chairman Philip Juico, AVC Secretary General Jaksuwan Tochareon, LVPI President Jose Romasanta, and PSL President Ramon Suzara
“The LVPI is very glad to entrust the hosting and organisation of this prestigious event to the PSL,” he said, adding that the PSL has the technical know-how to organize the tourney for being the only club league in the country. “We’re looking forward to a very successful participation and organisation to finally put the Philippines back to the international volleyball map.”
Here is the tentative schedule of the tournament set to be played at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
TENTATIVE GROUP STAGE SCHEDULE | |||
| POOL | September 3 | September 4 | September 5 |
| A | PHI vs. HK | PHI vs. VIE | VIE vs. HK |
| B | IRI vs. PKR | PKR vs. THA | THA vs. IRI |
| C | IND vs. KAZ | JPN vs. IND | KAZ vs. JPN |
| D | TPE vs. MAL | MAL vs. TKM | CHN vs. MAL |
| D | CHN vs. TKM | TPE vs. CHN | TKM vs. TPE |
The classification stage will be played on September 6-8 with the top two teams of the four pools divided into two pools (E and F). They will play a round robin-style of tournament but teams that have played each other in the Preliminary Round will not play again.
The quarterfinals, semifinals, and the finals will be played from September 9 to 11, 2016.
