Sierra Leone: SLVA Seeks Le84 Million for International Beach Volleyball Tourney

Concord Times (Freetown)

16 June 2011

Freetown — The Sierra Leone Volleyball Association (SLVA) is in need of over Le84 million to host the forthcoming Continental Beach Volleyball tournament, which will also serve as zonal qualification for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

According to the SLVA secretary general, Ahmed Khanou, they have budgeted the said amount for the three days competition which will attract 10 countries and will run from July 3 to 5 at the Lumley Beach, opposite Taia Resort.

“Presently the tournament is open to sponsorship as we are yet to secure any sponsors for the event. The said amount could be exceeded because we are expecting to host other international officials from the African body, CAVB,” Khanou said.

Sierra Leone saw-off competition from Morocco, Senegal and Cape Verde to host the tournament and according to Khanou, they were selected by CAVB because of the association’s capacity and the country’s resort, having hosted the sub-zonal event in January.

“We were only given the opportunity of hosting the event because we successfully hosted the sub-zonal event, and also because of the country’s resort and the association’s capacity.

“It was difficult for us because we cannot challenge those three nations in terms of beach volleyball facilities,” Khanou said.

Sierra Leone, Morocco, Cape Verde, Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Mauritian are the countries expected to compete for a place in the next round of the tournament.

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