Pakistan thrash Cambodia, Qatar in beach volleyball

KARACHI: A two-member Pakistan beach volleyball team notched two wins on the opening day of the Asian Under-19 Beach Volleyball Championship which began at Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, on Friday.

The team, comprising Zarnab Khan and Afaq Khan beat Cambodia and Qatar with identical margin of 2-0. The two leading sides will make it to the Youth Olympics and World Junior Championships.

Teams from 24 countries are participating in this tournament. Pakistan have been placed in Group B with Cambodia and Qatar. Pakistan will face Laos on Saturday (today).

If Pakistan win they will take on the winners of the match between Oman and Japan, which will also be played on Saturday (today).And the winners of that outing will progress to the semi-finals which will be played on Sunday (tomorrow).

Pakistan’s Iranian coach Hamid Movahedi told ‘The News’ from Thailand on Friday that they had worked very hard for the event.“Our team does not have any experience in beach volleyball. This is the first event for them,” Movahedi said.

“This tournament is so difficult for us because most of these teams have been active in beach volleyball and are experienced,” Movahedi said.Before the start of the event on Friday, Pakistan played two warm-up matches, against Japan and Thailand. Pakistan defeated Japan but went 0-2 down to Thailand.