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Volleyball body considering foreign training for juniors Back To Main

KARACHI: Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) is considering sending its junior team abroad for training ahead of the 16th Asian Junior Men’s Volleyball Championship to be held in the Iranian city of Urumieh from September 20-28.

“We are thinking about sending our team abroad ahead of the Asian Junior Championship and for that we will properly plan in the near future,” PVF Chairman Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob told ‘The News’ on Tuesday. “Iran has already extended us an offer and has told us that their doors will always be open for Pakistan.”

He said Thailand is another option. “We will try to provide better training opportunities to our team ahead of the Iran’s event.”

Pakistan lifted bronze medal in the 14th Asian Junior Championship in Tehran in 2008, their first medal in the 26-year history of the event.

But Pakistan did not feature in the 15th Asian Junior Championship in 2010 because of financial problems.

It was owing to the then Pakistan coach Ali Reza Moameri that the historic feat was achieved in the 2008 championship.

The Iranian had told the PVF if the federation was able to implement his preparatory plan, he would guide the team to finish at the victory podium and he did exactly that by ending the country’s medal drought.

The interesting thing about Pakistan volleyball team is that majority of the players of the junior team also play in the senior team. The senior team last year finished seventh in the Asian Men’s Seniors Championship in Iran. “We are yet to discuss when we should launch preparation for the Asian Junior Championship,” he said. The top two teams of the Asian Junior Championship will qualify for the World Junior Championship. “We have good young players and I believe that if imparted proper training they would certainly live up to the expectations,” Yaqoob said.

He added that the government is trying to provide the PVF with a Chinese coach. “The government is trying to manage for us a Chinese coach and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has already made correspondence in this regard. Because of the cordial relations between Pakistan and China, the PSB will be able to manage for us a coach mainly for the preparations of the South Asian Games,” he said.

The South Asian Games will be held in India at the end of this year. Some sources in India say that these games will be held in March next year.

“As we have two events this year, we will try to establish a joint training camp, having both senior and junior players in it, for some time,” said Yaqoob, also the Executive Vice-President for the Central Zone of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC).

In the last South Asian Games, Pakistan finished with silver medal after losing to India in the final in Dhaka in 2010. “India are strong but we have always given them a tough fight. If we work hard this time, the result in the South Asian Games will be more interesting for us,” PVF official said.