‘Volleyball team ready for Asian Senior event’

KARACHI: Eyeing good performance despite having faced some tough financial problem, Pakistan volleyball team was scheduled to leave for Iran late Tuesday night to feature in the 18th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship to be held at Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran from July 31 to August 8.
“The team will leave late this night via Doha,” Pakistan Volleyball Federation’s (PVF) secretary Shahid Kamal told ‘The News’ on Tuesday.
The Iran-bound side has 12 players, accompanied by four officials.
Experienced spiker Naseer Ahmed will lead the side.
Pakistan will be without the services of highly talented Aimal Khan because of his engagement in the Taiwan league.
“We did not force him to come because he could face financial loss,” Shahid said.
Pakistan have been bracketed in Group C with Thailand, South Korea and Oman.
The Green-shirts, who had missed the last event, will face Thailand on July 31, Oman on August 1 and South Korea on August 2.
Hosts and defending champions Iran, Kazakhstan, Kuwait and Chinese Taipei have been placed in Group A.
Group B carries Australia, India, Turkmenistan and Qatar.
China, Japan, Sri Lanka and Bahrain are in Group D.
Two teams from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals.
Shahid hoped that Pakistan would easily qualify for the quarter-finals. “I am sure we will be able to beat Thailand and Oman in our first two showdowns. By doing so we will move into the quarter-finals,” he said.
“South Korea are tough but beatable. In the past we have beaten them. But it depends on how our team plays against them on that particular day,” Shahid added.
He said that the team was in good form. “The players are ready for the challenge. They underwent around two and a half months training. Majority of the players are highly experienced. We have inducted two talented youngsters, Mohammad Usman and Haider Farooq, and I hope they will impress in their debut event,” Shahid said.
Mazhar Hussain will serve as head coach. Khalid Waqar and Azhar Mehmod will be his deputies.
Shahid said Iran’s crowd had always been supportive to other teams. “They love volleyball and support every team that comes to play,” Shahid said.
He was happy over the Pakistan Sports Board’s (PSB) sponsoring the team. “The other day we had a fruitful dialogue with the IPC secretary and PSB Director General and I am happy that things are going in the right direction,” Shahid appended.
“The tour will cost us around Rs3.5 million. On training we spent around Rs1.5 million. We did not get any sponsorship,” Shahid said.
The PVF-PSB relations remained tense in the last three years. However, a couple of months ago the PVF held elections after amending its constitution in accordance with the national sports policy. This brought both the bodies closer.
Pakistan squad: Naseer Ahmad (skipper), Mubashir Khan, Mohammad Idrees, Kashif Naveed, Ismail Khan, Mubashir Raza, Nasir Khan, Shuja Abbas, Binyamin, Haider Farooq and Mohammad Usman Officials: Mazhar Hussain (head coach), Khalid Waqar, Azhar Mehmood (assistant coaches), Inamullah (manager).