By LELE VEREIVALU of NIAV
It’s that time of the year again when we gear up and prepare for Fiji’s largest volleyball competition in Fiji and South Pacific, which will be held this Saturday September 06th 2014 at Prince Charles Park! This year marks our 10th year of the games since its inception in 2004.
The Nadi International Airport Volleyball (NIAV) Tournament is a not-for-profit corporate sporting organization with a strong focus on increasing sporting participation from across the country and invites extended internationally as well. The NIAV Tournament is not really a serious sporting event like club and association games but is a fun corporate competition to be enjoyed by all. Every year’s tourney keeps getting better and since it’s the 10th year anniversary. The tournament starts with our Tarakoro and Official Opening tonight, Friday 5th September at Fun World Plaza from 6pm.
The NIAV Tournament is funded through a variety of sponsors and through team registrations which makes volleyball enjoyed by bonafide employees young and old, experienced and novice. ANZ is once again our major sponsors this year and our co-sponsors are – Supreme Fuel, Fiji Water, Fiji Airways, Clyde Acrow, US Embassy, South Sea Cruises, Turtle Island Resort, Hilton Resort, Coca Cola, Airports Fiji Limited, Evergreen, Pure Fiji, Pacific Destinationz, Rentokil, Tappoos, Nadi Town Council, Fun World Plaza.
The NIAV Tournament Committee comprises of affiliates from different organizations within Nadi Airport while the Tournament is open to any corporate organization from all over the country and internationally too. As most of you are aware and have been following up in the past, we have grown remarkably in numbers over the years from our 7 organizations in 2004. In 2009 invites were sent to the Tourism Industry bringing a total of 74 teams altogether. In 2010 invites were forwarded to other organizations Fiji Wide and an international team which brought a total of 124 teams to participate. In 2012 we had 174 teams and last year (2013) although our initial plans was to have only 120 teams due to space limitations but by tourney day a total of 154 teams from 65 organizations took part with 2 international teams (Vanuatu and New Zealand). You may have seen that our numbers was at 85 as of the beginning of this week but we’ve had to cancel some teams due to incomplete registrations hence the number of organizations dropping back to 82 with Air New Zealand Auckland our lone overseas team coming for their second consecutive year of participation with 2 teams. Team Air New Zealand Auckland gets in at 1.30pm tomorrow Friday 5thSeptember and the committee wishes to invite you to cover their arrival for your sports pages.
There are now 82 organizations, 184 teams (64 Men’s, 28 Women’s, 10 Masters Women, 22 Masters Men and 60 Mixed), 574 pool games (224 Men’s, 84 Women’s, 20 Masters Women, 50 Masters Men and 196 Mixed), 5 sets of 4 Quarter Finals, 5 sets of 2 Semi Finals and 5 sets of Finals (5 being the different categories). Please refer to the attached – Pool Draws, Tournament Fixtures, List of Registered Teams.
History of Winners in the Past 10 years –
MEN
2004 – Airports Fiji Limited
2005 – Airports Fiji Limited
2006 – Airports Fiji Limited
2007 – Air Terminal Services
2008 – Arrivals
2009 – FOSTERS
2010 – CWM Medics
2011 – PFD
2012 – PFD
2013 – WAF
WOMEN
2004 – Air Terminal Services
2005 – LAWEDUA
2006 – LAWEDUA
2007 – Airports Fiji Limited
2008 – Airports Fiji Limited
2009 – SOFITEL
2010 – TPAF
2011 – RENTOKILL
2012 – TEACHERS
2013 – LAUTOKA MEDICS
MIXED
2004 – ARRIVALS
2005 – ARRIVALS
2006 – ARRIVALS
2007 – JACKS
2008 – MET
2009 – SOFITEL
2010 – TEACHERS
2011 – PFD
2012 – PFD
2013 – NAVITI
MASTERS WOMEN
2010 – Air Terminal Services
2011 – FNU
2012 – MEDICS LAUTOKA
2013 – MEDICS LAUTOKA
MASTERS MEN
2010 – ADT
2011 – Airports Fiji Limited
2012 – OUTRIGGER
2013 – WAF SUVA