Source: Xinhuanet

08-17-2007 10:19

BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Angelo Squeo, the FIVB technical supervisor for the women's beach volleyball challenger, said he was very, very satisfied with the venue and other details of the organizing work here on Thursday.

The Italian, who has been inspecting the sport in the Atlanta, Sydney and Athens Olympics in the past 14 years, spoke in praise of the test event and the playing ground, which was covered by about 17,000 tons of fine-grained sand shipped from South China's Hainan.

"We are very, very much satisfied with the venue and the competition here, the preparation work is positive and excellent," Squeo told Xinhua on Thursday.

"I want to congratulate the BOCOG and the beach volleyball organizers for their work here. It is a good position, good facilities and positive attitude (from the working staff), it feels the right way to fit the Olympics."

The Italian, partnering Portuguese Jose Casanova, technical supervisor in refereeing and Australian Blair Harrison, a member from FIVB control committee, has been on an inspecting tour in Beijing's Chaoyang Park beach volleyball ground during the women's challenger being held from Aug. 13 to 19.

"It is the first test event one year before the Beijing Olympics (beach volleyball) and it is very important as we can simulate the conditions of the real Games including weather conditions, working staff and judging, etc. Now we succeeded in doing that," said Squeo.

"It is good to finish the venue with one year to tick, and I would like to say that it is the best venue I've ever seen in my life, I'm sure it will be a great show in Olympic Games."

Squeo added that no complaints had been received from the players and coaches at the event.

Beach volleyball gained Olympic status at Atlanta 1996 and continued its success at the Sydney Games 2000 and Athens Games four years later. However, Olympic test events for the sport had never been running smooth.

In Atlanta, there were no test events; in Sydney, there were no test events either, only one friendly game was played one week before the Games started; in Athens a test event was held, but the venue was not completed yet.

The challenger is one of 42 test events planned for Beijing Olympic venues to assess preparations for the August 8-24 Games next year.

Following exactly the Olympic formula, the matches take place in day session and night session separately. The semifinals and final will be held in the morning, which accommodates the European and American needs.

In risk of losing the local audience, the FIVB official boldly predicted positive capacity on the Olympic beach volleyball day, from August 9 to 22, 2008.

"The Chinese attitude towards beach volleyball has been changing sharply these years, they are getting used to watching games under the sun and learned to enjoy the entertainment-like sports. We can prove this at this year's Shanghai Open," said Squeo.

"The schedule will include many matches featuring Chinese players in the night session, fans and athletes will both like it, and the lights are good too."

There was an average of 100,000 fans visiting Shanghai Open per day, according to Cao Yu, deputy competition manager of the challenger, adding that event was free of charge.

However, some problems were also exposed during the 50,000 US dollars event.

"English language here needs to be improved in terms of volunteers and staff members as when the Games are going on, there will be no time to explain what happens in such level of competition."

The organizing bureaucracy in Beijing is a big one and willing to help, but specific assignments need to be given to them each, the Italian added.

Besides, the space in the stadium needs to be reassigned among officials, players and media, he said.

"The best way to promote beach volleyball in China is playing and watching the sport at Olympics," said Squeo.

"I believe that after the Games on your home soil, Chinese people will like beach volleyball more than before."

 

Editor:Chen Ge