AVC invites Imma as a Neutral Referee for the first time

The Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) has extended an invite to Maldives beach volley referee Ismail Abdulla (Imma) as a Neutral Referee for the very first time.

Abdulla will be refereeing at Bahrain this month at the Asian Youth Games' (AYG) beach volleyball games as a Neutral Referee.

Abdulla has refereed as a Team Referee in international tournaments prior to this.

The responsibility of appointing referees for the matches lies with the respective country. The selection is made through the country's national association or the sport’s governing body that oversees the teams.

However, Neutral Referees are decided by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) international federation.

Ibrahim became a referee after being viewed as a candidate as he had refereed the required number of international games as per the AVC's guidelines. 

Ibrahim is the second Maldivian to be selected as a beach volleyball referee by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC). He initially began his career by completing an indoor refereeing course and has also officiated in indoor volleyball matches. This experience opened up further opportunities for him. After completing his beach volleyball refereeing course in 2018, he began working as a candidate.

Ibrahim is the first Maldivian referee to become a referee for the AVC since famous international Maldivian referee Hussain Mohamed.

In a previous interview, Ibrahim had said that Hussain was his mentor.

"Hussain was like a father figure to me, where he encouraged me and carved out a path for me as a mentor," said Ibrahim.

He also stated that he gave his all to volleyball and was able to climb the ladder due to Hussain's support.

When former FIVB President Ary Graça came to Maldives, Ibrahim had refereed the exhibition game that was played in Ary Graça's honor. He had said afterwards that the hardest target lies before him. He stated that it was his hope to achieve the FIVB beach volleyball referee's badge. Hussain is the only coach in Maldives that has the badge.