By Lance Agcaoili
THE Beach Volleyball Republic (BVR) signed a deal with ABS-CBN Sports as its official broadcast partner on Tuesday at the Restaurant 9501 at the ABS-CBN Eugenio Lopez Jr. Communications Center in Quezon City.
Aiming to promote beach volleyball throughout the country, the BVR, led by former Ateneo women’s team stalwarts Charo Soriano, Gretchen Ho, Dzi Gervacio, Fille Cainglet-Cayetano and Bea Tan, will now widen its reach as they will be officially backed by ABS-CBN Sports in their upcoming tournaments.
“Beach Volleyball Republic is here to stay and we will do our best to bring to every Kapamilya,” ABS-CBN Integrated Sports head Dino Laurena said after the contract-signing ceremony. “ABS-CBN, in its continued dedication to bring sports events closer to Filipinos, sees BVR as another sport in which we can all excel and a sport whose popularity is on the rise, the same way it happened for indoor volleyball.”
The three semifinals matches and three finals games of BVR’s fifth leg of its circuit will be broadcast live over ABS-CBN Sports + Action Channel 23 on April 27 and 28 at the White House in Boracay. It will be replayed at ABS-CBN Sports + Action HD a week later.
“This is a very humbling experience for the girls at BVR, we never really thought that this can happen as quickly as it did,” Soriano said. “This would not have been possible without the stakeholders and, of course, to be partnered with ABS-CBN, through ABS-CBN’s Integrated Sports division, to be able to provide an avenue for talented players.”
“We have another outlet, another venue to be able to still pursue our passion. I think it’s a very beautiful sport we’ve discovered and we would like to share that passion to other people from other provinces who are very much talented,” Ho said.
ABS-CBN Sports + Action will also feature highlights of the first legs of the BVR circuit in San Juan, La Union; Anguib Beach in Santa Ana, Cagayan region; and Lakawon Island in Negros Occidental.
Image credits: Roy Domingo