PVL targets June or July opening date, eyes Subic as venue

MANILA, Philippines–With time not on its side, the Premier Volleyball League has decided to push back the start of its 2021 Open Conference to June at the earliest.

According to PVL president Ricky Palou, all 12 teams agreed to postpone the league’s return to play anew due to the lack of preparation time.

Team training was stalled after the National Capital Region Plus was placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from April 1 to 11 before shifting to modified ECQ starting April 12 until the end of the month.

“We have agreed to move the PVL opening to either last week of June or the first week of July,” said Palou.

“We decided to do this to give ample time for the teams to train as a team as the training of the teams was disrupted when the government agencies agreed to place NCR, Laguna, Rizal, Cavite, and Bulacan under ECQ and now MECQ.”

Palou added the PVL is also looking at other provinces like Subic as host of its maiden professional season in case Laguna remains under MECQ by then.

The Open Conference was supposed to kick off late May at Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna.

Creamline, Choco Mucho, and Perlas had already begun training at Ronac Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong while Petro Gazz was holding its sessions at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan before the Games and Amusements Board suspended batch practices last March 29.

BaliPure (RIM Sports) and UAC (SGS) were about to start their practices.

Sister teams PLDT and Cignal had the San Sebastian College Gym and Paco Arena as their home base. Sta. Lucia and Chery Tiggo, on the other hand, held their sessions in Rizal and Subic, respectively.

F2 Logistics has yet to find a place to train.

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