Volleyball lovers were psyched for the upcoming weekend as the Central American Beach Volleyball Championship matches were to be held in Belize at the partially renovated Marion Jones Sports Complex.
But plans have changed. According to the Belize Volleyball Association, the event has been postponed - because of that same state of emergency in Peten that we told you about at the top of the newscast.
Teams from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador were to arrive by road but travelling through Guatemala is unsafe at this time. Today president of the BVA explained the situation to 7news.
Allan Sharp - President Belize Volleyball Association
"Well, about late yesterday evening, we were contacted by the President of All of Central America in Volleyball, and they were telling us that about the situation in Peten and that the teams were not feeling confident in travelling through the area. Everybody went back to their federation and then in fact, the federations actually stepped in force and said that they would not risk having their athletes come through the Peten area since it was in a State of Emergency. Well we're hoping that in July, we can realize the tournament. As you know, we were quite excited; a lot of people were quite excited to have the tournament. So we are now looking at some dates; we have to make sure that it doesn't conflict with the other tournaments happening throughout Central America and the Region. And also, we have to check with the sponsors to make sure that they're still on-board. Its not often that Belize hosts the Central American Championships in anything, so it's a bit of a learning curve. I think we're managing to be able to do it a second time around if the sponsors are still willing."
The Belize Volleyball Association still plans on hosing the Central American Beach Volleyball Championship end of June or sometime in July.
Email
Print