City to host junior volleyball tourney

Vijayawada, July 3 (UNI) The junior national volleyball tourney for boys and girls would be held here in January next year.

Observers of the Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) Rathinroy Chowdary and Prakash Roy were here yesterday to assess the infrastructure facilities available for staging the event.

Later, talking to reporters, Mr Chowdary said the recently concluded annual general body meeting held at Hyderabad had resolved to allot the tourney to Vijayawada.

He said the federation had deputed them to assess the facilities and submit a report. 'We will submit the report to VFI general secretary Murugan in a couple of days.'' 'We are satisfied with the facilities offered by the Siddhartha Academy institutions for staging the event', he added.

Former India coach Ramana Rao said as per the technical committee's conditions, the venue should have four floodlit courts with two practice courts adjacent to them.

More than 700 players from 25 boys and girls teams across the country would take part in the tournament.

Mr Rao said the city last hosted a junior national championship in 1974 and since then no big tournament of national significance had taken place here.

An estimated Rs 35 lakh would be spent on organising the meet.

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