Volleyball squad for Asian Under-23 C’ship announced

KARACHI: Pakistan on Wednesday unveiled its volleyball squad for the Asian Under-23 Championship, slated to be held in Ardabil in Iran from May 1-9.

The leading two sides will qualify for this year’s Men’s World Championships, to be held in Egypt.

The 12-member squad will be accompanied by four officials. Pakistan have been placed in Group A with Iran in the preliminary round. The Group B carries Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. China, Australia and Malaysia form Group C. Japan have been clubbed with Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) said on Wednesday that Azhar Mehmood, Muhammad Akram and Khalid Waqar had been training the outfit for one month.

However, the PVF was quick to add that Iranian coach Hamid Movahidi had also instructed the boys after he took charge of the senior team preparing for the Islamic Games and World Championship qualifiers.

Squad: Khalid Hussain, Muhammad Waseem, Abdul Zaheer, Afraz Khan, Saqib Khan, Fahad Raza, Muhammad Naeem, Usman Faryad Ali, Nabeel Shahzad, Zubair Idrees, Saleem Iqbal, Fakhar-Uddin.

Officials: Nawaz Khan (manager), Azhar Mehmood (head coach), Muhammad Akram and Khalid Waqar (both assistant coaches).