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The Vietnam News

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Vietnam benefits from influx of foreign women volleyballers

More and more foreign women players are signing up to play for Vietnamese volleyball clubs but a dearth of tournaments is keeping their stay in the country short. At the national women’s club championship which wrapped up two weeks ago, seven out of 12 participating clubs had foreign players in their ranks, all of them from Thailand or China.

Ha Manh Thu, general secretary of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation, said men’s clubs could not do the same due to financial reasons. For US$2,000 a month it was possible to sign a woman player but impossible to get a male player, he said. The highest-paid Vietnamese woman volleyballer, HaThu Dau of national champion ICB club, earns VND6 million (US$378) a month. But the foreign players are reportedly worth their money with most of them doing well and helping improve the standard of Vietnamese volleyball, according to observers. ICB coach Nguyen Huu Dong praised Thai player Pacharre and said it was her presence that helped the team win the championship. Each club is permitted to sign a maximum of two foreign players and field one at a given time.

Short term

However, most clubs only sign short-term contracts with foreign stars – about two months on average, to coincide with a particular event or events. At the end of the tournament the foreign players go home. Club officials said this was because there was a shortage of funds and events in Vietnamese volleyball. There are now just two regular national volleyball tournaments, the clubs championship and the national sports festival. The remaining few are invitation or friendly events held sporadically.

By Lan Phuong - Thanh Nien - March 24, 2006.