TPVL Apologizes as National Team Players to Miss Playoffs, Citing Full Responsibility

(CNA, Taipei, May 21, by reporter Chen Jung-chen) The Taiwan Professional Volleyball League (TPVL) will hold its playoffs this week, but unexpectedly, some key players must commit to national team training. The league issued a statement apologizing and stressed that it will learn from this experience as an important benchmark for future scheduling. The playoffs for the TPVL's inaugural year are set to begin tomorrow. However, as a member of the international volleyball family, and specifically due to regulations from the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), all players called up to their national teams worldwide must report by May 17 to prepare for upcoming international competitions. This forces some key players from TPVL teams to temporarily leave the league. Among them, the Taigang Wing, which ranked second in the regular season, is the most affected. Not only will they be without setter Chen Chieh-Ting, but foreign players Rik van Solkema, Magloire Mayaula, and Marck Jesus Espejo are also confirmed to be absent from the playoffs. TPVL expressed its deepest apologies to the fans in a statement, mentioning that it faced many challenges with venue coordination and schedule alignment. However, it acknowledged that the overall planning still has much to learn and improve upon. The failure to effectively separate the league schedule from the international competition calendar has prevented fans from seeing their favorite stars on the playoff and championship stage. "We are deeply aware of this disappointment and are solely responsible for it." TPVL believes that representing the country is not only the highest honor every player strives for but also key to Taiwanese volleyball's global outreach. The league fully supports the players in fulfilling their national team duties and will be their strongest supporter. It emphasized that the league will remember this experience and use it as a crucial reference for future season scheduling to do its utmost to prevent similar situations from happening again. (Editor: Lee Heng-shan) 1150521