Paris (VNA) – The Vietnamese women’s volleyballteam arrived in Paris on July 25 for the Challenger Cup 2023 and received warmwelcome from the Vietnamese community in the European country.

This is the first time in history that Vietnam has advancedto a world-class volleyball tournament after becoming the champion of the AsianChallenger Volleyball Cup.

Speaking at a welcome ceremony for the team at theVietnamese Embassy’s headquarters, Ambassador Le Thi Hong Van, PermanentRepresentative of Vietnam to UNESCO, complemented their achievements.

In only nearly three years, the team has won the Asianchampionship twice at both club and national scales, and for the first time gainedberths at prestigious world tournaments, contributing to putting Vietnam on the world women's volleyball map, she noted.

“You are the pride of Vietnamese and Asian sports, and therepresentatives of the Vietnamese youth and women who are confident tointegrate into the world and reach global stature after six decades sinceVietnam joined the first international tournament, the Games of the NewEmerging Forces in Indonesia in 1963,” she stated.

She said she hopes that the team will show their bestperformance at the Challenger Cup 2023, which takes place from July 27-31.

The ambassador said that one month ago, at the seventh International Conferenceof Ministers and Senior Officials Responsible for Physical Education and Sport(MINEPS) in Azerbaijan, participants committed to strengthening sportscooperation, investing more in the youth and promoting gender equality insports for sustainable development. The participation of Vietnam at thetournament is a vivid manifestation of Vietnam’s implementation of the commitment,she said.

After the ceremony, the team left for Laval, the venue of the Challenger Cup2023. They will play France at 22:30 on July 27. If winning this match, Vietnamwill have a chance to advance to the semifinal round on July 30.

The Challenger Cup 2023 will see the competition of eight teams from differentcontinents, namely Colombia, Mexico, France, Ukraine, Croatia, Sweden, Kenya andVietnam. The final match of the tournament will take place on July 31./.