Volleyball league plan almost ready, says PVF official

KARACHI: A senior official of Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) on Wednesday said that they were about to finalise all the modalities for the professional league.

“The league has almost been finalised and within a month we will disclose the dates and other details,” PVF chairman Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob told ‘The News’ in an interview.

He said an event management company would deal with the whole affairs. “We will coordinate with that company. I hope it will be a good event,” Yaqoob said.The organisers plan to hold matches in Lahore, Sialkot, Peshawar and Islamabad.

There will be six to eight teams which will be purchased by franchises as happens in professional T20 cricket.The competitions will be held on double league basis.

“The league time-frame may be from November to January. We will try to wrap it up in January keeping in view other domestic events and international commitments,” the official said.

This will be the first time that such a league will be conducted in Pakistan which will also have foreign players in it.“We hope it will help volleyball in Pakistan,” Yaqoob said.

He added that the ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) would be approached for financial assistance. “We will try to convince the IPC minister for the support,” he said.

Yaqoob also said that the PVF was going to launch a talent hunt programme soon after summer. “Once the weather gets better we plan to hold camps at six different places which have the talent. The camps will be of three months duration and 20 players each will be kept in every camp,” he said. “Narowal, Sialkot, Sahiwal, Bannu, Peshawar and Swat are the areas for the camps,” he said. “We will consider Karachi as well,” said Yaqoob, a former Balochistan Inspector General of Police (IGP).

The PVF also plans to train young blood with the seniors for future preparation.“When we hold camp for the Islamic Games we will put some players who recently featured in the Asian Junior Championship in Taiwan in the camp of the seniors so that they could learn,” the official said.

“Hiring the services of a foreign coach is also among our plans. We will approach the international volleyball governing body (FIVB) and Olympic Solidarity for the purpose. I am going to Argentina in October to attend the FIVB Congress and will to work in that direction,” said Yaqoob, who is also the POA vice-president.

The PVF also wants to promote women volleyball. “We are looking to induct a female vice-president in our set-up who will look after women volleyball,” he said. About Pakistan’s recent performance in the Asian Junior Volleyball Championship in Chinese Taipei, Yaqoob said that it was a totally new batch and would progress gradually. “If you look at the results the team showed marked improvement as the tournament progressed,” he pointed out.

Pakistan finished 13th out of 16 teams. Pakistan won the bronze medal in the event in 2008 under the coaching of Iran’s Ali Reza Moameri.