ISLAMABAD, May 30: The Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) is planning to stage the four-nation Prime Minister’s Gold Cup this August in Islamabad, a top official said on Friday.

Maj Muhammad Afzal, secretary of the PVF told Dawn that they intend to invite Thailand and Iran for the championship besides Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates.

“Thailand and Iran are almost certain to attend the championship with the PVF having to choose one country out of the remaining three,” Afzal said.

The tournament, which is held every two years is to take place at the Liaquat Gymnasium located in the premises of the Pakistan Sports Complex.

“We have written to the Pakistan Sports Board to seek permission from them for staging the event, who in turn have forwarded the letter to the sports ministry.”

The championship will be government sponsored and the PVF is hoping to hold it in the month of August so that the teams that come to Islamabad can then move on to China for the Sept 4-12 Asian Championship.

“Once we get clearance from the government, we will be asking the teams what time would be convenient to them - if they would want to go to China directly from Islamabad or would like to go home after finishing their assignments in Pakistan. Therefore we are going to set the dates accordingly.”

On the domestic level, the PVF is to hold the National Club Championship between the top 12 clubs of the country. The leading sides for this event would emerge through the Zonal and Provincial tournaments preceding the main competition.

Meanwhile the General Council of the PVF is to meet next month to discuss and finalise how to go about implementing the new sports policy.