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When teams descend on Sentul, West Java, next week to contest the 2011 President’s Cup, more than a trophy will be up for grabs.

Places in the 2012 National Games will also be on the line, further raising the stakes.

Last year, the Indonesian Volleyball Federation (PBVSI) decided to push back the next edition of the biennial tournament, which began in 2008 and was originally scheduled to hold its third edition next year. Instead, it decided to use the President’s Cup as a qualifying round for the National Games.

The stadium at the national training camp will host the tournament from June 22 to July 2. For the first time, the PBVSI will apply age limits to the President’s Cup and the National Games.

“We decided that both tournaments will be for players under 25 years old,” tournament director and PBVSI official Hanny Surkatty said on Tuesday. “With this new requirement, we hope to make this a more exciting and competitive tournament.”

Provinces such as Jakarta, East Java and West Java had become too dominant in the local championships, he continued. “The age limit will also help younger players come into the scene so we’ll have a bigger talent pool for the national team.”

Twenty-five men’s teams will compete for 10 spots in the National Games, which will take place in Pekanbaru, Riau, while 21 women’s teams will vie for six places. The 2008 National Games champions — the East Java men and Papua women — received automatic berths to next year’s tournament, as did the host province’s teams.

The top two teams in each of six President’s Cup groups and the four best third-place teams advance to the knockout round.

The East Java women’s team, which lost to Papua in the 2008 President’s Cup final, is still trying to secure the permission to use four players who are training with the national team.

It hopes to add Lailatul Aisyah, Maya Kurnia Indri, Maya Puspita and Novi Andriyanti, who have been with the national team since last month. Its chances look slim, though, as the national team is unlikely to release them before Jakarta Electric PLN plays in the Asian Women’s Championship in Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, from June 19 to 25.

“We’re waiting to see if the national team will bring them all to Vietnam or not,” East Java women’s coach Ayub Hidayat said. “I think we still have a good enough squad to qualify.”