Pakistan’s participation in Asian Volleyball C’ship under cloud

KARACHI: Pakistan may miss the Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship to be held in Tehran next month if the state does not financially support the country’s sport governing body (PVF).

According to sources, Pakistan’s participation in the vital continental assignment is at a high risk as PVF has no money left in its kitty.

The PVF recently spent Rs2 million on Pakistan’s Under-23 team tour of Myanmar where the Green-shirts showed solid performance by finishing fourth in the 3rd Asian Men’s Under-23 Volleyball Championships.

It was learnt that the federation had borrowed the same money spent on the highly talented brigade, which also beat the eventual champions Chinese Taipei in the preliminaries in Myanmar.

Sources said that the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) had promised that the state would provide Rs4 million to the PVF after Pakistan’s Under-23 assignment in Myanmar but so far not a single penny has been given to the federation.

Sources said if the PVF is not funded by the state in few days then it will not be possible for the federation to ensure the national team’s participation in the Asian Championships which will be held in Tehran from September 13 to 21.

‘The News’ has learnt that during the last three years, the state only gave Rs3million to the PVF which has itself spent around Rs15 million on Pakistan’s various international assignments during the last couple of years.

The PVF is also paying salary to the Korean coach Kim Kyoung Hoon, who replaced former Pakistan’s Iranian coach Hamid Movahedi in May.

If Pakistan misses the Asian Championships, it will be a real loss to the country’s potentially glorious team which is also set to have some stuff from the Under-23 team that recently fought well in Myanmar.

Pakistan had also missed the Asian Championships in 2013 in Dubai due to financial issues.

According to sources, Pakistan’s team camp had already been held along with the Under-23 side in Islamabad but was disbanded. Now the PSB is expected to approve the camp again from Monday (tomorrow) at its headquarters in the federal capital.

Korean coach is also in Islamabad.

PVF has invited 18 players and four officials for the camp. There are also six Under-23 players in the list, while the rest are seniors. Five of them — also including Waseem, Fahad Raza, Hammad and Usman — were part of the Pakistan’s squad that featured in the Asian Under-23 Championships in Myanmar. However, Yasin, also an Under-23 boy, was not part of Pakistan’s squad in the Myanmar event but has also been called up for the camp as libero.

As many as 16 nations are set to feature in the Asian Championships. Pakistan have been clubbed in Group D with four-time champions South Korea, last edition’s No 4 side Indonesia and Kuwait which did not feature in the last edition held in Gresik, Indonesia, in 2017.

Iran, Australia, Qatar and Sri Lanka form Group A, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Hong Kong are in Group B, while Kazakhstan, China, Oman and India have been bracketed in Group C.

Pakistan will begin their journey with the fixture against South Korea on September 13. This will be followed by their matches against Indonesia on September 14 and Kuwait on September 15.

Making their debut at 1987 edition in Kuwait City, Pakistan finished 7th. The Green-shirts finished fourth at the 1989 Seoul edition.

Mostly in the continental event, Pakistan have either finished at the seventh or eighth spot.

Since the Asian Games held in Indonesia last year, Pakistan’s sports teams have been constantly missing international events due to financial issues. Giving a few million to a handful of federations recently, the state has not contributed much to sports development.