The 2023 Zhejiang Middle School Volleyball Championship opens in Huzhou's Deqing county on March 6. [Photo/hz66.com]

The 2023 Zhejiang Middle School Volleyball Championship opened in Huzhou's Deqing county on March 6, attracting 37 teams from 28 schools in 11 cities across the province.

The event, which is sponsored by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education and the Zhejiang Provincial Bureau of Sports, has competition categories for junior high men, junior high women, senior high men and senior high women.

A total of 114 matches will be held in three venues in the following five days, with the top eight teams in each category crowned the winners.

Members of the volleyball teams to represent Zhejiang at the first national student sports meeting will be selected from the champions within each group, according to the organizers.

Selecting Deqing as the venue for the championships is part of authorities' efforts to welcome the upcoming 19th Asian Games, which will kicks off its 200-day countdown on March 7.

The competition will help identify any problems in the volleyball stadium, which is also the venue for the volleyball events of the Asian Games.

Deqing will host the women's volleyball events and 3-on-3 basketball competitions of the Asian Games this September.