Pakistan unveils squad for Asian U23 Volleyball C’ship

KARACHI: Pakistan on Sunday unveiled its squad for the 3rd Asian Men’s Under-23 Volleyball Championship which will be held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, August 3-11.

Fahad Raza will lead the side which will be coached by Korean Kyounghoon Kim.

The 19-member squad contains 14 players and four officials. Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) chairman Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob will also accompany the squad.

The squad will leave for Myanmar on July 31.

Pakistan have been placed in Group C with Qatar, Bahrain and Chinese Taipei. Hosts Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Australia and hong Kong are in Group A, Japan, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam are in Group C, while Thailand, China, India and New Zealand form Group D.

Two teams from each pool will progress to the quarter-finals league. Pakistan will begin their journey with the match against Qatar on August 3. This will be followed by their outing against Bahrain on August 4 and Chinese Taipei on August 5.

Yaqoob is hopeful about his team’s prospects in the continental event.

“I hope the team will be among top two in the group,” Yaqoob told ‘The News’ on Sunday.

He said that the Korean coach had been training the squad well.

“He is preparing a team which will play fast game and I hope he will be able to get the best out of his charges,” Yaqoob said.

The Korean has replaced Iranian coach Hamid Movahedi who served Pakistan for a couple of years.

Squad: Mohammad Waseem, Fahad Raza (captain), Abdullah, Murad Khan, Ali Haider, Ahmed Nazir, Mohammad Hammad, Zarnab Khan, Anwar Khan, Adnan Khan, Hamid Yazman, Mohammad Yasin, Nadeem Khan, Usman Farhyad Ali, Officials: Nasir Mehmood (manager), Kyounghoon Kim (head coach), Mazhar Hussain (assistant coach), Mohammad Akbar Ali (assistant coach), Chaudhry Yaqoob (chairman PVF).