PSL welcomes huge challenge of restart

MANILA, Philippines — It’s all systems go for the Philippine Superliga (PSL) as all member teams threw their full support to the staging of the Challenge Cup Beach Volleyball tournament from Nov. 26 to 29 in Subic.

PSL chairman Philip Ella Juico said the team owners meeting last Monday went well with all stakeholders expressing confidence that they would come up with a safe and competitive tournament despite the pandemic.

The PSL is set to become the first volleyball and amateur league to restart its season under the new normal.

The Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) gave it the green light after approving the safety guidelines that the PSL crafted for five months.

The PSL created a medical commission under Dr. Raul Alcantara that would be on top of the implementation of the health and safety protocols in cooperation with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and the IATF.

“We formally presented our program to the team owners last Monday and we got an overwhelming response,” said Juico, former chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission.

“All of our teams are very supportive and are confident that we could come up with a competitive tourney without risking the health and safety of players, coaches, league officials, media and other stakeholders.

“After all, we have a set of health and safety guidelines that took us five months to develop and in coordination with our medical commission headed by Dr. Raul Alcantara, the IATF and the DOH (Department of Health),” he said.

Juico said they are looking at 16 teams to compete in the three-day tournament.

Aside from their PSL teams like Petron, Cignal, Chery Tiggo, F2 Logistics, Generika-Ayala, Sta. Lucia, Marinerang Pilipina and PLDT Home Fibr, commercial teams will also be invited to vie for beach volley supremacy.

“We have been getting a lot of feedback from various stakeholders knowing that this could be the last volleyball tournament of the year,” Juico said.

“We are open to the idea of welcoming teams outside the PSL so we can come up with a competitive and exciting tournament,” he added.