FIVB World Congress   FIVB increases support for Development Centres Porto, Portugal, May 13, 2004 - The FIVB announced on Thursday at its 29th World Congress an increase in support for its eight Development Centres in Asia, Africa and the Americas. The Development Centres will be able to apply for additional funding for specific sports, medical and management programmes to develop Volleyball in their region. Mr Vicente Araujo, FIVB Executive Vice-President responsible for the Development Centres, announced that the FIVB would pay the expenses of a full-time professional instructor in each Centre who will travel to neighbouring countries to conduct courses. In addition to the existing Development Centres in Thailand, Bahrain, India, Tunisia, Senegal, Sudan, Dominican Republic and Venezuela, the FIVB World Congress in Porto approved the proposal to consider opening “itinerant centres” or “centres of excellence” in countries that are willing to develop Volleyball and Beach Volleyball in their region but do not fully meet the conditions for permanent Development Centres. It was also agreed that France and Cuba will also participate in helping development in francophone and Spanish-speaking countries respectively. The FIVB also announced that 90 countries had benefited from successful Sports Aid Programmes in 2002 – 2003 to develop Volleyball in their countries.