Pakistan to play against Japan ahead of Asian Volleyball

KARACHI: Japan has agreed to play a couple of warm-up matches against Pakistan ahead of the Asian Volleyball Championship which will be held in Surabaya, Indonesia, from July 24 to August 1.

A senior official of Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) told ‘The News’ on Thursday that the schedule of the matches would be decided on Friday (today). “We had written a letter to Japan and had requested for a couple of matches. They have replied in affirmative. Pakistan will reach Indonesia tomorrow. The dates and timings of the matches will be decided there,” the PVF official said.

Pakistan played a couple of matches in a friendly tournament in Doha during the last three days. They beat Oman 3-1 but lost to hosts Qatar 1-3.

In the Asian Championship, Pakistan have been clubbed in Group B with the last edition’s runners-up Iran, fifth place finishers Chinese Taipei and Iraq. Indonesia, Qatar, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia form Group A.

Defending champions Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Sri Lanka form Group C. Australia, China, Thailand and Hong Kong have been bracketed in Group D. In the preliminaries, Pakistan will begin their journey with a game against Chinese Taipei on July 24. They will face Iran on July 25 and Iraq on July 26.

In the last continental event, Pakistan finished tenth. Pakistan: Muneer Khan, Mubashir Reza, Asif Nadeem, Sheraz, Aimal Khan, Naseer Ahmed (captain), Imran Sultan, Kashif Naved, Murad Jehan, Mohammad Idrees, Mohammad Adeel, Nasir Ali, Fahad Reza, Fakhruddin

Officials: Mohammad Farooq (manager), Hamid Movahedi (coach), Mazhar Hussain, Mohammad Jameel, Ubaidullah Shah (assistant coaches), Farokhi Fard (analyst, Iran).