International referees during the seminar in Kraków
Kraków, Poland, July 11, 2016 – Eight Olympic referees will continue their Rio 2016 Olympic Games preparation whilst officiating in this week's FIVB Volleyball World League Finals 2016 in Krakow, Poland.
Juraj Mokry (SVK), Nasr Shaaban (EGY), Luis Macias (MEX), Jiang Liu (CHN), Ibrahim Al Naama (QAT), Heike Kraft (GER), Andrey Zenovich (RUS) have been selected to officiate in this year's World League showpiece event with Piotr Dudek (POL) as the reserve referee and all will be heading to Rio.
Olympic Volleyball RefereesAs part of the FIVB's extensive preparation program, the nine referees will continue daily sessions in order to be in the best possible frame of mind to perform at their best.
“The Rio 2016 Olympic Games Referee Preparation Seminars are part of the vision to continue to develop and improve all aspects of the sport of volleyball and beach volleyball,” FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça F° said. "In 2015, e-learning was the priority for referees to upskill themselves and to increase collaboration between referees around the world now we are focusing on personal preparation ahead of the biggest volleyball event this year.
“This goes to show that the FIVB is focused not just on the athletes and the event in terms of professionalizing the sport but the officials are equally important. With the Challenge System also being implemented, the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be the best officiated Olympic ever.”
Seminars have been held for both volleyball and beach volleyball referees leading up to the Olympics at the FIVB Volleyball World Cup last year, plus the Rio Grand Slam and Hamburg Major for beach volleyball, and World Olympic Qualification Tournaments in Japan and the World Grand Prix G1 Finals.
The seminar held during this week's FIVB Volleyball World League Finals, intends to improve all aspects of the sport as the referees, teams and officials are making their final preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The World League Finals provide an excellent platform to make the preparations for the 2016 Olympic Games with an equally competitive atmosphere. In Kraków the referees have the opportunity to develop their skills with taking charge of the matches involving six best teams from the World League competition.
The importance of the communication has been pointed out as one of the means to improve the judgment during the match.
At the 2016 Olympic Games the video challenge system, referee headsets and tablets will be in use, improving not only the spectator experience but also assisting in the officiating of matches.