ISLAMABAD, July 9: Bulgarian coach Ivan Stefanov, who previously trained Pakistani volleyball players for the SAF Games, is due to arrive here in a week’s time to take up another assignment.

Muhammad Afzal, secretary of the Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) said on Wednesday that Stefanov would get down to work with the senior players who are currently training in Islamabad for a string of championships.

“We have the Prime Minister’s Gold Cup, the Asian Senior Championship and the Al-Rashid Tournament coming up for which the players are preparing at present under our own coaches Habib Asghar and M.B Javed.”

The PVF plans to hold the Prime Minister’s Gold Cup International Tournament in Islamabad in August in which four countries are likely to take part. This will be followed by the Asian Senior Championship which is to be hosted by China in September and then the Al-Rashid Tournament in Dubai which is also scheduled take place the same month.

Afzal said that invitations had been extended to Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE and Thailand to compete in the Prime Minister’s Gold Cup. “We are waiting for confirmation from them.”

The players in training at the camp are: Muhammad Irfan, Muhammad Ilahi, Sadi Ahmed, Muhammad Tufail, Amjed Hussain, Ehsanullah, Zafar Iqbal, Muhammad Sakhi, Naseer Ahmed, Mazhar Gujar, Kashif Mansoor, Sajid Nawaz, Ehsan Iqbal, Muhammad Ishfaq, Sajjad Ali, Liaquat and Muhammad Imran.