Rahman arrives to coach Pak volleyball team for one year

KARACHI: The newly-hired Iranian volleyball coach Rahman Mohammadi Rad reached Pakistan late Friday night.

His services have been hired by Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) for one year initially.

However, an official of the PVF told ‘The News’ on Saturday that they wanted to keep him until the 2023 14th South Asian Games to be held in Pakistan.

He will prepare Pakistan’s senior team for the Asian Championship to be held in Japan in September.

This correspondent learnt that Rahman, a former assistant coach of Iran, landed in Karachi on Friday night and then flew to Lahore on Saturday.

It was learnt that he also met Pakistan team players on Saturday at Lahore. Pakistan’s camp was in operation at the POF Wah but was shifted to Lahore on Friday due to certain reasons.

Now the volleyballers will undergo training at the Sports Board Punjab (SBP) premises for the Japan event.

Rahman is also the head coach of Sepahan, one of the top Iran teams.

Pakistan’s senior players have something to do after a long gap and they are working hard for the Japan event.

“The players are in good shape and the Iranian coach will make them well-prepared for the continental event,” a senior PVF official told ‘The News’.

Iran’s coaches are very popular and since 2007 this is the third Iranian coach which Pakistan has hired. Before him Ali Reza Moameri worked with the Pakistan team in 2007 and 2008. He enabled Pakistan junior team to win their maiden bronze medal in the Asian Junior Championship history.

In recent past, Hamid Movahedi served Pakistan for two years. He developed not only the senior team but also junior and youth brigades and was considered the most disciplined coach.