Volleyball tournament flooded with foreign players
VietNamNet Bridge – Up to 26 foreign players are registered for the second round of the Volleyball Tournament for Strong Teams 2008, which started on Saturday.
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Thailand’s top player Wanchai (red) is playing for Viet Steel - HCM City. |
This is the highest number of foreign players on record since foreign players were allowed to participate in the tournament in 2005.
Notably, most of these players signed short-term contracts with Vietnamese teams. This means that they are hired to serve these teams in this tournament only.
The Viet Steel – HCM City team had two Thai players in the first round and it ranked 3/6 teams. In the second round, this team pays US $4,000 to hire Thailand’s top player, Wanchai, for one month.
Of the 12 participating teams, up to eight teams signed short-term contracts with foreign players. For example, Sao Vang Bien Phong has Zhao Kai from China, Bien Hoa Construction Material has Yuranan from Thailand, Army Corp 4 has Somporn from Thailand, Trang An Ninh Binh has Supachai Spriphum (Thailand), Ben Tre with Yuttana and Pongsakorn Nimawan (Thailand), Military Zone 5 with Joni Sugiyatno (Indonesia), and Sanest Khanh Hoa with Ayip Rizal, and Affan Priyo Wicaksono from Indonesia.
Women’s teams also employed a lot of foreign players from Thailand, China and Russia.
“Hiring foreign players in short-term is just to seek immediate achievements for clubs,” commented correspondent Nguyen Luu, who has written about volleyball for years.
It is said that it is a waste to paying a lot of dollars to hire foreign players because it couldn’t help to build the contingent of volleyball players for Vietnam.
The second round of the tournament runs from November 15-30 in Nha Trang and Vung Tau, with the participation of 24 teams.
(Source: Tuoi Tre)
Update from: http://english.vietnamnet.vn//sports/2008/11/814029/
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