Cambodia to host the WOVD 2007 Volleyball World Cup

The Cambodian National Volleyball League (Disabled) (CNVLD) is Cambodia's premier sports organisation with 3 major programmes: Standing Volleyball, Wheelchair Racing and Children’s Sports. Over 200 Cambodian Athletes with a Disability compete in 18 Volleyball Teams and 5 Wheelchair Racing Teams nationwide.

The Cambodian National Volleyball Team is #1 in Asia-Pacific and #4 in the World. The CNVLD operates one of the most popular sports websites in the global disability network with over 10,000 hits per month – www.standupcambodia.org

From November 24th to December 2nd 2007, Cambodia will host the 2007 WOVD Phnom Penh Volleyball World Cup, the first ever team sports world cup event to be hosted in the Kingdom. The CNVLD will soon be launching a new website www.volleyballworldcup2007.org in the coming weeks to promote the World Cup.

Organised by the Cambodian National Volleyball League Disabled (CNVLD), in cooperation with the Royal Government of Cambodia and the WOVD, the 2007 WOVD Phnom Penh Volleyball World Cup will help raise global awareness about the landmine issue and assist Cambodia to secure the nomination for becoming the ASEAN Centre for Disability Sports.

Hosting the World Cup will also assist Cambodia to secure accreditation to bid for other world sanctioned sporting events in the coming years and provide impetus for ensuring a strong Cambodian presence in the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Paralympic games.

Renowned for their Deter-Mined performances, the Cambodian National Volleyball Team (Disabled) have nothing less than World #1 in their sights and will take on the world’s best at the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh to prove their calibre. The current World Champions, Canada have already confirmed their attendance with Germany, Slovakia, Australia, Poland, and Rwanda expected to attend.

Negotiations are also under way with Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar in order to support their efforts to participate and ensure a spectacular event to symbolise Cambodia’s successful return to the international sporting stage.

The 2007 WOVD Phnom Penh Volleyball World Cup will also draw the attention of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to Standing Volleyball as the ‘missing sport’ in the global Paralympic movement. The Cambodian World Cup will demonstrate the importance of Standing Volleyball within the disability demographics of post-conflict nations ravaged by landmines and the IPC is strongly encouraged to return Standing Volleyball to its rightful place in the Paralympic Family. Standing Volleyball is the ideal team sport for encouraging the rehabilitation of amputee survivors of the landmine, being cost effective, playable in all conditions and allowing athletes with a disability to compete with dignity and pride.

The 2007 WOVD Phnom Penh World Cup is to be organised under the Patronage of Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen, a reflection of the support provided by the Royal Government of Cambodia to this historic sporting event.

On behalf of the Royal Government and the People of Cambodia, the CNVLD looks forward to welcoming all athletes, officials and fans from Cambodia and all over the world for the 2007 WOVD Phnom Penh World Cup.