2019 Asian U21 Beach Volleyball C’ships: PVF to hold training camp in Karachi from Feb 18

KARACHI: Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) plans to hold preparatory camp for the 2019 Asian Under-21 Beach Volleyball Championships at Karachi from February 18.

“Initially, we had planned to begin the camp at Islamabad on February 18 and then shift it to Karachi from March 1. But now we are going to revise our plan as we want to begin the camp from February 18 at Karachi,” PVF chairman Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob told ‘The News’ on Monday.The 2019 Asian Under-21 Beach Volleyball Championship will be held in Bangkok from March 16 to 18.

Pakistan will be fielding its two teams in the competitions, which also will serve as qualifiers for the Under-21 World Beach Championships — slated to be held in the Udon Thani, Thailand, from June 18 to 23.

“We have requested the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and hopefully we will be able to execute our plan properly,” Yaqoob said.“We will put six players in the camp and four of them, two for each team, will be sent to Bangkok,” the official said.

He said that Pakistan’s ace players Zarnab and Afaq will form one team and the other side will be picked from the bunch in the camp.Yaqoob hopes that Pakistan will live up to the expectations in the continental event.

“You know the pair of Zarnab and Afaq was No.4 in Asia. Afaq has joined Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and we have requested his department to release him for the camp. Zarnab is a student from Peshawar,” said Yaqoob, also the vice-president of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA).

Yaqoob said that Iranian coach Hamid Movahedi will return to Pakistan on February 18 to supervise the camp.Thailand will also host the 2019 edition of the men’s and women’s FIVB Beach Volleyball Under-21 World Championships.Thailand won the bid from a total of seven proposals submitted by national volleyball federations across four volleyball confederation territories. This is the second time that Thailand is hosting an age-group event. In 2003, the Beach Volleyball Under-19 World Championships took place in Pattaya.

PVF secretary Shah Naeem said that the exact venue for the camp will be confirmed soon.“I have also requested Navy and am waiting for their response. If we are to hold it at sea view so we will have to get permission for the purpose,” Shah said.