LAHORE: The newly-hired Brazilian volleyball coach Issanaye Ramires Ferraz will reach Islamabad on Sunday (tomorrow) to join Pakistan national team which is preparing in the federal capital for major international events in the next few months.
“Yes, the Brazilian coach will be reaching on June 11,” Pakistan Volleyball Federation’s (PVF) chairman Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob told ‘The News’ on Friday. “His services have been hired for one year,” Yaqoob was quick to add. Pakistan senior team will feature in the 4th AVC Men’s Challenger in Chinese Taipei from July 8-15. It will be followed by the Asian Championship which Iran will host in Tehran from August 18-26. And the Green-shirts’ next target will be the 19th Asian Games slated to be held in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to October 8. However, volleyball event during the quadrennial spectacle will be held from September 19-26. It will be a test for the Brazilian coach to prepare a fighting lot as PVF wants its team to finish in the top four at the major continental events. “I hope we will be able to qualify for the semi-finals in the continental events,” said Yaqoob, a former top police official.
The PVF has also hired the services of Brazilian trainer Lucas Ferreira Rodrigues, who will also be joining the squad in the federal capital soon. “We have signed an agreement with the Brazilian trainer and he will be coming soon as he has applied for visa,” Yaqoob said. “We are also going to engage a video analyst from Iran, the one who we hired previously. He will also train our home-grown crew and that will help in future,” Yaqoob said. “Both the trainer and the video analyst have been engaged for six months. After the Asian Games these people will also work on our youth,” Yaqoob said. He thanked both Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and sponsor Engro for helping the PVF in hiring the practitioners which will help the national team to develop properly for future tough challenges.
“The PSB has hired for us the coach while Engro paid for the trainer and the video analyst,” Yaqoob said. He said that Pakistan will also hold a 15-day camp in Tehran ahead of the Asian Championship. “The camp will help us a lot. We want to see our brigade finish somewhere on the victory podium,” Yaqoob said.He said that only former Pakistan captain Aimal Khan is missing from the squad. “Aimal is not there because his performance has gone down with age,” Yaqoob said. He said that Mubashir will be captaining the side. Yaqoob said that there are 22 players in the camp which will be reduced to 18 when the Brazilian coach arrives. He said that he expects a lot from the brigade which is currently being handled by a group of local coaches.
Yaqoob said that qualifying for the World Championship will be their main target. “Our main target is to qualify for the World Championship. For this we will have to come in top 24 teams of the world. If we are able to make it to the top four in Asia then the things will become easier,” Yaqoob said. However, he said that their long-term target will be to make it to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Yaqoob said that after the Asian Games the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Games will be held in Chonburi, Thailand, in which they will be fielding their Under-23 team.