Financial constraints: Pakistan may miss Asian Volleyball C’ship

KARACHI: Pakistan may miss the Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship to be held in Tehran next month if the state did not financially support the country’s volleyball 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.

Sources said 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 was not funded by the state in few days then it would not be possible for the federation to ensure its 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 various Pakistan’s 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 early May this year.

If Pakistan missed the Asian Championships it would be a real loss to the country’s potentially glorious team which also will have some stuff from the Under-23 team which 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 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 he has also been called up for the camp as libero.

As many as 16 nations are set to feature in the Asian Championships in Tehran. Pakistan have been clubbed in Group D with four-time champions South Korea, last edition’s No4 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 their fixture against South Korea on September 13. This would be followed by their matches against Indonesia on September 14 and Kuwait on September 15.