Day one of the Indoor Volleyball

By Volunteer Kat Cassidy

It was an early start for the teams who jump started for the volleyball this morning. The first three matches were simple wins for Honolulu FD, Russia FD and Hong Kong Police as the each won 2 sets to 1 at the Lisburn Raquets Club.

Great support from other members of the Hong Kong police games team who provided just a little bit of noise as well as those teams who had there own special chants!

The second match between Geneva Police and Honolulu FD was extremely close  but Geneva pipped them at the post 2-1.

Honolulu Fire greeted each team with what seemed like a goody bag when asked what was in them Bryan Soares replied "We brought these from Honolulu to give to our competitors before each game it gives them a little taste of Hawaii." Bryan added about the loss against Geneva Police "We played against them in Vancouver and lost there, but they are a much younger team! But if we don't win here we are hoping for a medal in the surfing most of our volleyball team our entering the surf competition as well!"

Despite the Russian Customs being larger than life it was the wiry Singapore police that slammed the win.

Geneva PD v Brussels FD saw the battle of Europe commence it was a tightly called match throughout the three sets but Geneva PD took the win. Emercom (Russia FD) v Garda Shiocana  the Irish were on fine form against the Russians but it was the Eastern European power the vaulted the win in favour of Emercom.

Singapore PD v Hong Kong PD in division 2 was an evenly match game with both sides playing skilfully with the odd dive and nifty agile moves thrown in xx won

Graham Bell, NIVB referee "The standard has been very high in division 2 especially the Russia customs v Singapore match. But these two teams are the ones to watch as I would put my money on the two meeting again in the final.If I had to pick a winner for division 2 I would say SIngapore PD as they seem to have consistently the best players. NYFD are definitely here to enjoy it despite their scores which is great to see."

NYFD and Garda Siochana both have had a female player in a men's match but Graham explained "A female is allowed to play in a men's  match if they don't have enough male players however it is not allowed for a male to substitute in a women's match due to unfair advantage!"

Division 1 started at the end of the day with Brasilia MP v Moscow Dinamo a fast paced match that involved some heavy debating with the red but ended in favour of the Russians. Also playing was USA combined police v Tatarstan republic police in which Tatarstan overpowered the Americans and they did the same with Brasilia MP. Throughout the week will be more division 1 and 2 matches as well as women's and mixed. The finals will be a must watch and they take place on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th August at Lisburn Raquets Club.

Full results for the day can be found at www.nivb.com