Xi'an to host Paris 2024 men's volleyball qualifying tournaments

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) announced on June 15 the host cities for the Paris 2024 Olympic qualifying tournaments. The men's volleyball qualifying tournaments are scheduled to be held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Tokyo in Japan, and Xi'an in Northwest China.

The women's counterpart is set to be scheduled in Ningbo in East China, Tokyo in Japan, and Lodz in Poland.

This sets to be the first time for Xi'an to host an Olympic qualifying event.

The men's and women's qualifying tournaments are set each to have 24 teams participating. The men's and women's volleyball teams are divided into three groups.

The competition promises to adopt a single round-robin system, and the top two teams in the group are expected to get tickets to the Paris Olympic Games directly.

The Qujiang Sports Complex in Xi'an is scheduled to be the venue of the men's volleyball qualifying tournaments for the 2024 Paris Olympics. [Photo/Xi'an Daily]

Chinese men's volleyball team is in Group C this time. The opponents in the same group are from Poland, Argentina, the Netherlands, Canada, Mexico, Belgium, and Bulgaria. The group match has been confirmed to be held in Xi'an from Sept 30 to Oct 8.

As the venue for the event, the Qujiang Sports Complex was built in 2022 and can accommodate more than 10,000 audiences. It can hold high-level competitions for gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, handball, tennis, fencing, and wrestling.

So far, the preparations for the event have started. FIVB officials are scheduled to come to Xi'an to inspect the venue and accommodation soon. The Xi'an municipal bureau of sports is expected to establish an organizing committee as soon as possible to ensure that the preparations for the event are progressing smoothly.