Rotterdam, the Netherlands, July 2, 2015 – FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça F° visited Rotterdam on Thursday, one of the four venues of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in the Netherlands.
He was very much impressed with the iconic decor of the venue, the historic cruise liner ss Rotterdam. “Congratulations to Rotterdam for a superb event.”
Dr. Graça was welcomed by the ship’s captain, Ton Wesselink, and also enjoyed a boat ride with a water taxi, before he met with some of the ball retrievers. “The event proves to be very popular with the kids, which is very important”, he said, “because kids are the future of our sports.”
The FIVB President then met with Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb in downtown city hall. Aboutaleb told the President he was honoured to be one of the hosts for the FIVB World Championships.
“I am very happy with the collaboration with the FIVB”, the mayor said. “And I am pleasantly surprised with the visit of the President.”
The mayor was also proud that his city welcomed the 100.000th visitor to the competition on Wednesday.
President Graça is visiting all four cities before ending in The Hague for the semifinals and finals on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.