July 31, 2008	Thursday	Rajab 27, 1429

ISLAMABAD, July 30: Seventeen volleyball junior players are undergoing training at the Liaquat Gymnasium for the 14th edition of Asian Junior Men’s volleyball championship scheduled to be held in Tehran, Iran, from Aug 23 to 31.

A Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) official told Dawn on Wednesday that a 12-member squad will be announced for the event on Aug 12.

The official said the players were being trained by Iranian coach Ali Reza Moameri along with Pakistani coaches Mohammad Akram and Khalid Waqar.

Fifteen countries will participate in the Asian junior event divided into four groups.

Pakistan are placed in group ‘D’ along with Chinese Taipei, China, and Kuwait.

The championship is also the qualification tournament for the World Junior Volleyball Championship 2009.

Following players are training at the camp:

Shah Rukh, Haseeb-ul-Hasan, Asif Nadeem, Pir Bakhsh Yasin, Zahid Bashir, Mohib Rasool, Aimal Khan, Shah Faisal, Syed Shuja Abbas, Babar Bhutta, Zaheer Khan, Mohammad Wasit, Zaheer Abbas, Ali Abbas, Farooq Khan, Nasir Khan, Mohammad Ismail.

Following are the pools:

Pool ‘A’: Iran, Qatar, Maldives,

Pool ‘B’: Japan, Australia, Kazakhstan, United Arab Emirates,

Pool ‘C’: India, Korea, Sri Lanka, Indonesia,

Pool ‘D’: Chinese Taipei, China, Pakistan, Kuwait.