The week-long tournament has attracted 10 teams from eight countries who will play for a prestigious trophy donated by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

Teams in Group A are Indonesia, Sichuan (China), India, Hitachi Sawa Rivare (Japan) and Sangsom (Thailand), while Group B consists of Zhetyssu (Kazakhstan), Chung Shan (Taiwan), Liaoning (China), Vietnam and Toray Arrows (Japan).

After the group round-robin preliminaries on Saturday, the top two teams from each group will compete in the cross semi-finals, with the winning two teams making the final.

With so many good club team entered, a tough test awaits local players in the biennial meet.

This year the tournament is being co-organised by the Volleyball Association of Thailand (VAT), Ramkhamhaeng University and the Thai Beverage company and will be a part of the nation-wide celebrations of the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King's accession to the throne.

VAT secretary-general Shanrit Wongprasert admitted that an uphill task awaits the local girls and getting as far as the semi-finals would be a good result.

"If our girls are in poor form, their much stronger rivals from Japan [the Toray Arrows are champions of the Japan League and Hitachi were runners-up] and the two Chinese teams will beat them and they will not make it to the semi-finals," he said.

Somporn Suphop

The Nation