Volleyball team to tour Qatar

Event will serve as warm-up for Asian Championship

KARACHI: Pakistan men’s volleyball team will tour Qatar for a few practice matches ahead of the Asian Championship, which will be held in Indonesia from July 24 to August 1, per Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) Chairman Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob.

“Every team before any international event needs a foreign tour as a tune-up," explained Yaqoob in an interview with The Express Tribune. "As the team is going to participate in the Asian Championship at the end of this month so we have planned a tour of Qatar too. This will help them prepare for the tough assignment in Indonesia."

Yaqoob further said: “The road towards the Asian Championship will begin from July 16 when our team will leave for Qatar, where they will play at least four matches against their national team. We had requested them for tour matches and they cooperated. They also invited Iraq and turned it into a mini tri-nations tournament.”

He further said the team, after playing matches in Doha, will fly off to Indonesia on July 20 or 21. “The team will reach the Asian Championship venue at least three days before so they could get used to the conditions there,” said Yaqoob.

Pakistan, who finished 10^th in the last continental event, have been placed in Group B with last edition’s runners-up Iran, Chinese Taipei and Iraq.

The 14-member team for the twin tours will be announced soon. “The selectors will soon sit with coach Hamid Movahedi, who is currently supervising the camp at the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad,” he said.

He also informed the head coach will be accompanied by two assistant coaches, a manager and an analyst from Iran on the team's tours.

Movahedi, meanwhile, feels the Asian Championship will be the toughest assignment his team has had to participate in so far as the leading participants all have the experience of playing in the world league and possess much fitter players.

He, however, has backed his charges to hold their own. “I am still hopeful that our boys will offer tough resistance to the strong sides and will provide improvement on their previous results in the tournament,” he said.