Vanuatu Women Back On The Tough Road of International Competition
4 November, 2019
The Women’s Beach Volleyball squad has had a busy week, participating at the first women’s event of the new FIVB Competition Calendar year, in China.
Vanuatu Volleyball sent two teams to the FIVB Qinzhou Open – the lead team of Miller Pata and Sherysyn Toko and the Women’s second team of Loti Joe and Maybel Ravo – the former automatically listed in the tournament’s Main Draw while the latter pair participated in the Qualification round.
The spanish pair of Alvarez and Mareno proved too strong in the qualification matches for Joe and Ravo, winning in straight sets on Wednesday.
While a win, and therefore a place in the main draw, would have been preferable, Joe and Ravo are gaining the benefits of increased experience on the international stage and the ranking points gained by participating in an FIVB level tournament.
For Pata and Toko, the tournament started well with a strong straight sets win over Thai pair Radarong and Hongpak. But in the following two matches, the squad from China proved to be too strong, firstly going down to the tournament top seeds Wang/Xia, then to the pair of Wen/Wang – the ultimate bronze medallists in the competition. Although Pata and Toko started strongly against Wen/Wang, taking the first set to a 22-24 result, the Chinese women took that winning momentum into the second set and sealed their victory, ending the tournament for the Pacific champions.
For Miller Pata and Sherysyn Toko, this is all good experience as the Chinese teams will be a testing hurdle in the coming months on the road to qualifying for Tokyo 2020.
Next up for Team Vanuatu is the all important Continental Cup Olympic Qualifier (Phase 1) in Fiji in mid-December.
ParaVolleyball display a hit with visiting Australian FM
2 November, 2019
On Friday 1 November, Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister and Minister for Women, the Hon Senator Marise Payne, concluded her whirlwind Pacific visit with a stop in Luganville on Vanuatu’s largest island of Espiritu Santo.
A key focus of this visit was to acknowledge the progress of the Vanuatu Volleyball Federation’s Volley4Change program – which is supported under the Australian Aid funded Pacific Sports Partnerships initiative – and to be updated on VVFs recent active incorporation of ParaVolleyball (Sitting) into its sport for development family.
Police Headquarters in Luganville, Santo was a hive of activity from the early hours as staff, community workers and volunteers prepared for the Minister’s visit, erecting marquees, despite the strong easterly winds, arranging seating, preparing food and setting up a temporary Sitting Volleyball court inside the Youth Sports facility at the Northern Police HQ.
The Minister was treated to a lively exhibition of paravolley as well as Women’s volleyball on the outdoor court, co-ordinated by the Vanuatu Volleyball Federation’s Santo staff. She was encouraged by news of growing partnerships between the V4C program with the Police and local NGOs, Civil Society Organisations (CSO) and the community.
About Volley4Change: Volley4Change is a sports for development program managed by the Vanuatu Volleyball Federation. Founded in 2014, V4C aims to help people in Vanuatu make positive lifestyle changes through keeping active by playing Volleyball and learning the importance of physical activity and good nutrition.
Volley4Change Program is supported by the Australian Government (DFAT) and facilitated in partnership with Volleyball Australia. http://vanuatuvolleyball.com/volley4change/