POC takes over leadership row-hit volleyball

The Philippine Olympic Committee is taking over the affairs of  the Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) that is now wracked by a nasty leadership squabble.

POC vice president Joey Romasanta yesterday said he will lead a five-man committee that will “look into the problem” of the PVF and run the affairs of volleyball until everything is settled.

The committee will also include International Volleyball Federation and Asian Volleyball Confederation development and marketing official Ramon “Tats” Suzara and Shakey’s V-League top honcho Ricky Palou.

Also being considerered as committee members are volleyball stars Gretchen Ho and Angeli Tabaquero.

Romasanta said they have raised the problem of local volleyball with the FIVB and AVC whose top officials told them to do “what the POC thinks should be done.”

The five-man committee, according to Romasanta, will also draft a new constitution and by-laws that will be consistent with that of the AVC, FIVB, POC and International Olympic Committee.

He met with FIVB and AVC honorary president Wei Jizhong and AVC executive vice president Shanrit Wongprasert during the recent Asian Beach Games in Phuket, Thailand.

“We will schedule an election that is fair, democratic and should include as many stakeholders in the sport as possible,” said Romasanta. “In effect we will make a new federation.”

No time frame was set for the reorganization of the PVF but Romasanta said the POC could run the association after the 2015 Southeast Asian Games in June.

One of biggest concerns so far is the formation of the national men and women teams for the SEA Games which has set the deadline for submission of entries in April.

Last August, a PVF group conducted tryouts for the national men and women teams with financial support from a top corporation. But another PVF group opposed the move, reigniting the power struggle in the association.

Romasanta said the committee will review the parameters of the tryouts, how they were conducted and who headed them. The tryouts ran for weeks and gathered local volleyball’s top players.