LAHORE: Led by Naseer Ahmad, a 16-member Pakis­tan volleyball squad left here for Tehran, Iran on Wednesday to participate in the 18th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championships to be held there from July 30 to Aug 8.

Overall, 16 countries are participating in the event and they have been divided into four groups and Pakis­tan is placed in Group ‘C’.

Pakistan Volleyball Fede­ration chairman Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob said the visit became possible after the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) lent a helping hand to the federation.

He said the PVF was thankful to the PSB, otherwise, it was very difficult for it to send the team.

He added that the team departed after attending a two-month-long training camp, which first was held at the Wapda Sports Complex and then at the Pakistan Ordnance Factory, Wah.

Yaqoob said Pakistan was appearing in this event after a lapse of four years.

He said Pakistan would not play practice matches before start of the event as they left for Iran late.

Other teams in Group C are Korea, Thailand and Oman.

Pakistan will play three matches in the preliminary round and four in the second round for the ranking.

Other participating countries are Australia, China, Kazakhstan, India, Japan, Kuwait, Turkmenis­tan, Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei, Qatar, Bahrain and host Iran.

Pakistan squad comprises 12 players and four officials.

Squad:

Naseer Ahmed (captain), Binyamin, Farooq Haider, Mohib Rasool, Mubashir Raza, Mohammad Idrees, Ismail Khan, Kashif Naveed, Mohammad Usman, Muneer Khan, Nasir Khan and Shujah Abbas Naqvi.

Officials:

Manager: Inam Ullah (manager), Hassan Mazhar Hussain (head coach), Khalid Waqar and Azhar Mahmood (assistant coaches).

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2015

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