Beijing, China, May 10, 2008 – Thailand is to host the first Asian Men Cup Volleyball Championship and the first Asian Women Cup Championship, Asian high level new competition events, in September and October respectively.

In order to further raise the level of Asian Volleyball, AVC in its General Assembly last year decided to launch a high-level new competition event, namely "Asian Cup for men and women", which will be held every two years. The top eight teams in the Asian Senior Championships will participate in the event. The Asian Cup event will be held in even years, one year after "Asian Senior Volleyball Championships", which will be held in odd years.

The first Asian Men Cup Championship is to be held from September 20-26 in Nakhon Ratchasima with teams from Thailand, Australia, Japan, Korea, China, Chinese Taipei, Iran and Indonesia participating. The women’s event will be held from October 1-7 in Ratchaburi with Thailand, Japan, China, Korea, Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei, Australia ans Vietnam participating.

The Asian Women Cup Volleyball Championship is also the Qualification Tournament for 2009 FIVB World Grand Prix.

The drawing of lots for these two events were held recently in Beijing. The participating teams are divided into two groups for preliminary round, followed by the quarterfinals, semifinal and finals.

The men's grouping:

Group A: Thailand, Korea, China, Iran

Group B: Australia, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia

Preliminary round schedule

Day one

Group A: CHN vs. THA, KOR vs. IRI

Group B: JPN vs. INA, TPE vs. AUS

Day Two

Group A: THA vs. IRI, CHN vs. KOR

Group B: INA vs. AUS, JPN vs. TPE

Day three

Group A: KOR vs. THA, IRI vs. CHN

Group B: TPE vs. INA, AUS vs. JPN

The women’s grouping

Group A: Thailand, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Vietnam

Group B: Japan, China, Kazakhstan, Australia

Preliminary round schedule

Day one

Group A: VIE vs. TPE, THA vs. KOR

Group B: CHN vs. KAZ, AUS vs. JPN

Day two

Group A: TPE vs. KOR, VIE vs. THA

Group B: KZA vs. JPN, CHN vs. AUS

Day three

Group A: THA vs. TPE, KOR vs. VIE

Group B: AUS vs. KAZ, JPN vs. CHN