Port city to host FIVB Beach Volleyball tourney

• The event will be held from February 28 to March 3
• Men and women from 32 countries from across the globe will participate in the event

Visakhapatnam: The port city is going to host another international volleyball tournament among men and women teams from 32 countries from February 28 to March 3. 

The Vizag Open, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event, will be held at the Ramakrishna Beach and the organisers claim this is as one of the mega volleyball event ever conducted in the country. The event is being conducted in the memory of former national coach S Kodandaramiah, who passed away recently. 

During the press meet held here on Saturday, Volleyball Federation of India secretary general Ramavatar Singh Jakhar and GVMC Commissioner M Harinarayanan unveiled the logo and mascot ‘Dolf’ of the event. 

AP Volleyball Association president and Government Whip PVGR Naidu (Ganababu), Dronacharya and Arjuna awards winner A Ramana Rao, managing director of LSM, a sports promoting company, organising the event and senior sports official D Prasanna Kumar graced the event. 

Speaking to media, Ganababu said that it was the late Kodandaramiah’s dream to organise the event and it would be befitting one to dedicate the event to him.

 Ganababu said the late Kodanadaramaiah was making efforts to get the event here for the last seven years and when it was all set for the event four years ago, the destructive Hudhud cyclone forced the event out of the city. 

With the experience of conducting the junior World men’s championship and the Asian Youth and other international and national events under the guidance of Kodandaramiah, he was confident that the beach volleyball event would also be conducted successfully. 

He thanked Jakhar for allotting the event to Visakhapatnam and giving an opportunity to project the city. Jakhar said the VFI would provide all the technical support to the event as it was one of the biggest event in the world and by conducting it successfully, India would be elevated and Visakhapatnam would get worldwide recognition. 

Municipal Commissioner Harinarayanan said it was for the first time in Andhra Pradesh that a sports event with a huge participation of foreign players was being held and was another step in making Visakhapatnam as the sports capital of AP. He assured all support from GVMC end to the event.