Brazil’s Ary Graca elected as FIVB president

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ary Graca of Brazil has been elected president of volleyball's international governing body,, The Republic reported.

Graca, head of both the Brazilian volleyball federation and the South American confederation, received 103 of the 204 eligible votes at the FIVB World Congress on Friday, Sept 21.

The FIVB, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, governs volleyball and beach volleyball worldwide and oversees 220 affiliated federations. The 33rd World Congress opened on Wednesday. Graca is the fourth president in the history of the FIVB. It was the first time the organization had held a democratic election for the position.

"We must teach how to fish, not give fish," Graca said. "It is about sport for sport. I have already exchanged many ideas with different federations with the Brazil Federation. There must be a significant transfer of knowledge. If we can do it in South America, if we can do it in Brazil, we can do it everywhere. Help me to help you."

USA Volleyball CEO Doug Beal received 86 votes and Chris Schacht of Australia had 15. The 206 federations voted by secret ballot. Two votes were invalidated.

Beal was vying to become the only American governing body president of a summer Olympic sport. He told The Associated Press earlier this week that if he wasn't elected, he would remain with USA Volleyball.

Beal, a three-time Olympian as a player and coach of the gold medal-winning U.S. men's national team at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, had the support of the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Volleyball's board of directors in his pursuit of the position.

Graca succeeds Jizhong Wei of China, who was appointed to the post in Beijing four years ago and insisted he would step aside after a single term to make way for the first democratic election in the organization's history.

The first FIVB Congress took place in Paris in 1947 when Paul Libaud was named the FIVB's first president.