Pakistan plans to host Asian Men’s Volleyball event

KARACHI: Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) is considering hosting the Asian Men’s Seniors Central Zone Volleyball Championship near the end of this year. “We have decided to go in full gear this year to develop the game,” PVF chairman Mohammad Yaqoob told ‘The News’ on Sunday.

“Besides fielding our various age-group teams and senior outfit in international events this year we plan to hold the Asian Men’s Seniors Central Zone Volleyball Championship near the end of this year,” he added.

He said it might be held in October as there were various international commitments of Pakistan’s various age-group and senior sides until September. Yaqoob said that it would be a six-team event. “Besides Pakistan, there will be Iran, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka and India, if its suspension is lifted by then, and the winners of Asian Central Zone Group II competitions which will carry the low-ranked sides like Nepal, Kyrgyzstan and Bangladesh,” said Yaqoob, a former police officer.

He said that the project would be resource-intensive but effort would be made to organise it in a befitting way like in the past. Pakistan last hosted such an event around a decade ago in Islamabad.

He said that after this event, in the next three years, Pakistan would also be trying to host junior and youth level continental events.He revealed that PVF had already put entry of national champions WAPDA in the 2018 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship to be held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, from July 30 to August 6.

“WAPDA’s chairman has agreed to send his team. This will be the first time in history that Pakistan will take part in the continental club championship,” Yaqoob said.He was quick to add that PVF would also try to put some more players in the touring party so that it could help the nation’s cause in future.

Yaqoob said that from early next month a camp, carrying mostly under-22 players, would be held in Lahore with the assistance of Sports Board Punjab (SBP). “Barring those who play professional volleyball abroad we will target those players who are in the mainstream and can represent Pakistan’s senior side. The basic purpose of the camp is to remove the weak points of the budding lot for future national duty,” the official said.

He said that he was hopeful that Pakistan would develop a very impressive side in future as the country had found a few highly talented players.He said that national youth and junior camp was being shifted to Islamabad. “We plan to shift it from Peshawar to Islamabad,” the official said.

Pakistan youth side will feature in the 12th Asian Men’s Under-18 Volleyball Championship to be held in Tabriz, Iran, from June 29 to July 6.And Pakistan junior side will take part in the 19th Asian Men’s Under-20 Volleyball Championship at Manama, Bahrain, from July 21 to 28.

Both the events will also serve as qualifiers for their respective world championships. Pakistan seniors will be fielded in the 6th Asian Volleyball Council (AVC) Men’s Cup in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei, from August 8 to 15.

There will be also the 2018 AVC Men’s Challenge Cup in summer for which the venue is yet to be decided. It had been planned to be conducted in Kyrgyzstan but the idea was dropped.Pakistan, in the meantime, will also take part in the Asian Games which will be hosted by Indonesia in Palembang and Jakarta from August 18 to September 2.

About handling all such camps at the same time, Yaqoob said Iranian coach Hamid Movahedi would travel from one centre to the other and would give programmes to the home-grown coaches who would prepare their respective lots as per advice of the foreign coach.Movahedi has been training the youth and junior national sides and he also conducted women’s national camp here at the PSB coaching centre.Movahedi’s services had been hired in April last year. His initial contract was for six months which has been extended.