ASIAN U18 VOLLEYBALL

Pakistan crush New Zealand 3-0

By Our correspondent

KARACHI: Pakistan youth volleyball team on Friday made a golden debut when they crushed strong New Zealand 3-0 in their group opener of the 12th Asian Men’s Under-18 Volleyball Championship in Tabriz, Iran.

Pakistan’s colts, who are featuring for the first time in the 18-team event, took a bright start to their journey when they lifted the first set 25-18.

In the second set, Pakistani spikers kept the pressure and doubled their lead with a 25-12 easy victory. Hamid Movahedi’s charges kept their momentum in the third set as well, lifting it 25-11 to seal a commanding triumph.

With the victory Pakistan will now play in the next phase as group winners. Uzbekistan were the others in Pakistan’s group but they did not turn up for the event.

Pakistan’s Iranian coach Hamid Movahedi was happy with his team’s fine start.

“The team played really well,” Mohavedi told ‘The News’ from Tabriz after the match.

“All the boys put in their best and our analyst, who is from Iran, played a key role in the entire outcome,” Mevahedi said.

Movahedi also made it clear that all the contesting teams would be playing at the same level. Earlier as per the new format the top nine sides had to play in Division-1 and the remaining nine had to show their worth in Division-2 but Movahedi said that all nations had protested against that format and so the organisers had to reconsider their decision. “Now all will play at the same level,” he said.