JAPAN’S Kurashiki Ablaze and Vietnam’s Kinh Bac-Bac Minh will be the two clubs vying for the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference.

The mid-season tournament is currently on a nine-day break to give way for the Volleyball Nations League Week 3 and action will resume on Tuesday with a four-match bill at the Philsports Arena.

“In line with the PVL 2023 Invitational Conference, it is with great excitement to inform everyone of the two (2) official foreign guest teams who will be participating in this conference,” said the league through its website yesterday.

The Kurashiki City-based club is currently competing in the third-tier Japan V.League.

Kurashiki placed second in the 12th National Volleyball League, a winner in the 13th National Six-Man Volleyball League Western Tournament, and a third placer in the 13th National Volleyball League Grand Champion Match.

Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh’s biggest credential was the securing first place in 2018 that gave the Vietnam club the right to compete in the National Championship.

In the first year of competing against the strongest clubs, Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh won the bronze medal in 2019 and was able to stay in the podium the following year.

Last season, it was KingWhale Taipei which competed as the lone foreign guest squad as Japan’s Kobe Shinwa backed out at the last-minute in last year’s Invitational after some of the members were tested positive for Covid-19. The Taiwanese went on to make the finals but eventually lost to Creamline.

The back-to-back title-seeking Cool Smashers are currently leading Pool A with a 2-0 record.

Choco Mucho and F2 Logistics, meanwhile, have identical 2-0 slates to lead the way in Pool B.

The top two teams in each pool will advance to the round-robin semifinals, along with the two foreign squads starting July 20 at the Philsports Arena. Teams from the same pool will carry over their head-to-head record into the second round.

The top two clubs in the semis will advance to the winner-take-all final, while the third and fourth-ranked teams will compete for the bronze medal.

Those teams that do not advance to the next round will move to the classification phase. However, the sixth-placed squad in Pool B will automatically be ranked 13th.