Peera Fongdavirat, director of the policy and planning division of the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT), has agreed to support the staging of the tournament with an Bt8-million budget.

The organising committee will receive an additional Bt8 million from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). But the organisers must find another Bt5 million to meet the Bt21 million required to stage the event.

The possibility of reaching that figure has grown increasingly slim, prompting Geoffrey Rowe, managing director of tournament organiser Pentangle Promotions, to visit Tourism and Sports Minister Dr Suvit Yodmani to ask for financial support.

"Our chance of staging the world class tournament remains possible. Only the prize money remains an influential factor. If the government does not give us a financial boost, we might be charged by the world's leading players who have already confirmed their participation," Rowe said.

"If the final reply from the government is not made before Monday, we will inform the cancellation to the FIVB [volleyball's governing body]."

Suvit said he had only just realised the urgency of the matter and had already co-ordinated with the SAT to take the issue into consideration.

Shanrit Wongprasert, secretary general of the Volleyball Association of Thailand (VAT), told The Nation yesterday that cancellation of the World Tour would not affect the association.

"Although it's possible Thailand cannot host the event due to the financial problem, the FIVB won't take any legal action against the association. However, tournament organisers Pentangle Promotions may be fined tens of thousands of US dollars," he said.

"Actually, the association had no thoughts of staging a world class event like this, because I think it's beyond our ability, especially on the financial side. We won't get the tournament back from Pentangle as we're not ready to stage the tournament ourselves."

The Beach Volleyball World Tour is scheduled for November 1 to 5 at Karon Beach in Phuket, with world class players from Australia, the United States, China and Japan, among other countries, ready to battle it out.

Somporn Suphop

The Nation