Iranian volleyball coach voices against night training

KARACHI: Pakistan volleyball team’s Iranian coach Hamid Movahedi is not in favour of training in the night by the athletes who prepare for any international event.

“Night is not ideal for the players to train in. In the night a human body goes to sleep and the players may get injured,” Movahedi told ‘The News’ in an interview on Monday. He was not happy with the situation of Pakistan where professional players keep fast during Ramadan.

“There is very bad situation in Pakistan. Here players keep fast and so sleep throughout the day. In the night they undergo training which is not good. I have never seen in any other Muslim country, even in Iran and Saudi Arabia, whose professional players keep fast in Ramadan. They don’t keep fast and work very hard,” Movahedi said. “Fasting is good for everybody but not for professional players. When players keep fast they need one month to recover after Ramadan as they get too weak,” the coach said. The coach is also not happy with the delay in holding of the senior national volleyball team camp for the Asian Games.

“It’s very bad situation. We wanted to hold the camp for the Asian Games seven days after featuring in an event in Kazakhstan recently but it could not be made possible. You know Pakistan’s sport faces multiple problems,” Istanbul-based Movahedi said.

He said that Asian Games were very important event and there was a need to prepare well for the challenge.“It’s very crucial event. Iran, Japan, Korea and China are playing in the World League. Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Kazakhstan and Vietnam will feature in the AVC Cup one week before the Asian Games which would help them a lot. But we are in serious trouble. No camp yet,” Movahedi said. He was happy with the growth of Pakistan’s team over the last few months. “The team is rapidly improving. You know we beat Chinese Taipei 3-0 in Kazakhstan recently. Chinese Taipei are very good side.

But you know it’s important to keep building the team constantly. We had one year plan but one cannot help when there is a break in continuity of any sort in training due to certain issues,” the coach said. Movahedi is supervising camps of Pakistan’s youth and junior teams in Peshawar. Pakistan youth team will feature in the Asian Youth Championship in Tabriz, Iran, from June 29 to July 6. This will be followed by Pakistan junior team’s engagement in the Asian Junior Championship in Manama, Bahrain, from July 21-28. And then will be the Asian Games slated to be held in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang from August 18 to September 2.

Keeping in view the talent Movahedi has at his disposal in these camps the coach sees a very bright future for Pakistan’s volleyball. “We have very good players in youth and junior camps who are surely Pakistan’s future. This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that a youth side has been formed which is a very good step by the Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF),” Movahedi said. He was also satisfied with his support staff, saying they are learning. “Pakistan’s young coaches are learning modern volleyball and it is great for the country,” Movahedi said.

Movahedi in the next couple of days will move to Islamabad to hold senior team camp for the Asian Games.“We have only one facility well enough at Pakistan Sports Complex Islamabad for training. There is no good hall in Karachi or anywhere else in the country. It’s hot in Islamabad but we have no other better option to hold camp,” the coach said.