Pakistan’s new volleyball coach arrives on April 30

KARACHI: South Korea’s Kim Kyoung Hoon will land in Pakistan on April 30 to take charge as Pakistan’s volleyball coach, a senior official of Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) said on Monday.

“Yes, Kim is coming on the 30th,” PVF chairman Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob told ‘The News’. He said that the South Korean had been hired for six months. “You know our outgoing Iranian coach Hamid Movahedi developed the teams and we don’t want to let his work be wasted, so we opted to hire Kim immediately to build on Movahedi’s fine effort,” Yaqoob said.

Kim’s immediate task will be to hold Pakistan camp for the Asian Men’s Seniors Championship, slated to be held in Iran from September 13 to 21. “We will sit with him to decide about the camp for the continental event. We will try to hold a camp in Ramadan. Training sessions may be arranged at night,” Yaqoob said.

As per draws of the Asian Championships, hosts Iran, Australia, Qatar and the team finishing second among the Central Zone teams (India, Sri Lanka and Turkmenistan) are in Pool A. Title-holders Japan, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Hong Kong are in Pool B.

Pool C consists of Kazakhstan, silver medallists at the previous edition in Indonesia two years ago, China, one team finishing second among the Western Zone teams (Oman, Kuwait, Iraq), and one team finishing first among the Central Zone teams (India, Sri Lanka and Turkmenistan).

Pool D comprises South Korea, Indonesia, one team finishing first among the Western Zone teams (Oman, Kuwait and Iraq), and Pakistan. Movahedi, whose two-year contract expired on March 31, left for his hometown Istanbul just a few days ago. Pakistan failed to renew his contract because the government refused to provide any more fund for the purpose.

Yaqoob said that the recently-held National Championship was productive as some good talent was spotted. “Some good boys were identified at the national event in Lahore. Among them are four or five setters and some others have different speciality,” Yaqoob said. He said there is immense talent in Pakistan which would be groomed through productive programmes.