Pakistan whack Chinese Taipei in volleyball opener

KARACHI: Pakistan were off to an impressive start when they whacked Chinese Taipei 3-0 in their opening match of the FIVB World Challenger Cup Qualification Continental Volleyball tournament in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The set scores were 25-22, 26-24, 25-19 in Pakistan’s favour. Pakistan had lost to Chinese Taipei in the last Asian Senior Men’s Championship at Surabaya, Indonesia. Chinese Taipei had finished fourth in Asia in that tournament. They had also defeated South Korea and Iran in Asian Championship.

Pakistan will play their next match against Kazakhstan at 4pm on Saturday (today).The Pakistan-Chinese Taipei show turned out to be a tough one with the Green-shirts playing better game than their rivals in both defence and attack.

Aimal Khan, Murad Jehan and Mubashar Raza showed great spiking power. Mubashar Raza and Nasir did a great job in defence. Aimal Khan, Mubashar Raza and Sheraz served excellently and disturbed the reception of the ball by Chinese Taipei.

Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) said that Pakistan’s Iranian coach Hamid Movahedi had worked very hard with the team in the camp. “Movahedi has prepared a fine side,” the PVF said.

“The team’s recent visit to Turkey also paid off as it played three matches with Turkish senior team and gained great match experience,” the PVF added.If Pakistan wins this event it will host another qualification tournament in which four or five teams from South America will participate. That event will decide the teams which qualify for the World Challenger Cup.