POC to supervise volleyball election as FIVB seeks ‘legitimate’ NSA

MANILA, Philippines — The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has urged the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) to hold an election for the national sports association for volleyball.

The FIVB, through its director general Fabio Azevedo, had already written to Tolentino twice with the last on Dec. 7 to emphasize the need for Philippine volleyball to establish a legitimate NSA.

“We would also like to take this opportunity to kindly ask you to schedule a date as soon as possible for these democratic elections with the participation of all relevant stakeholders,” wrote Azevedo, who also congratulated Tolentino for his election as POC head.

POC president Bambol Tolentino. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

“There was already a request from the FIVB some time ago to hold a volleyball election before the FIVB’s general assembly this February,” Tolentino said. “Without a legitimate NSA, we cannot send national teams to FIVB-sanctioned tournaments abroad.”

Both the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Inc. and the Philippine Volleyball Federation are not recognized by the FIVB.

“Therefore, we will ask all volleyball stakeholders to cooperate and participate in the elections,” Tolentino said.

President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said the POC will supervise the election to be held later this month or before the FIVB World Congress that will be staged online from Feb. 5 to 7.

“The FIVB wanted to recognize a legitimate volleyball NSA before its world congress. It’s urgent,” said Tolentino, who added that a committee will be formed to oversee the election.