ISLAMABAD, Aug 3 The Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) has sought special funds of Rs2.5 million from the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) to complete two upcoming international assignments, Dawn has learnt on authority.

The PVF faced similar situation last year when it stayed away from appearing in the 15th edition of Men's Asian Volleyball Championship, bringing in much dismay for more than 1,500 professional players mainly due to lack of funding from the games regulator — PSB.

“A request for funds has been dispatched to the sports board's director general Amir Hamza Gilani so that we can prepare the national team for the Asian Games,” the vice-president of the PVF, Mohammad Afzal, told Dawn.

The Pakistan volleyball team, he said, would participate in the third Asian Central Zone Volleyball Championship, scheduled to be held in Kolkata, India, from Sept 16 to 20.

Afzal, also a former national player, said “We will also participate in the Al-Rashid Cup slated to be held in Dubai in October this year which will be build-up training programme for the 16th Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou, China, from Nov 12 to 27.”

The amount needed for the two training tours, he said, would give good exposure to the national squad.

Answering a question he asserted that the federation has been continuously exploring opportunities to generate funds through multi-national companies.

The federation had asked for an immediate financial bailout from the government to avoid default on public loans it received for the promotion of sports in May last year but failed to get a favourable response from the sports board.

He insisted “We are confident of getting get Rs2.5 million from the PSB this time because the special grant will ensure survival of sports, which is largely played in rural parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.”

Meanwhile, an official of the board claimed “We are not in a position to comment on the issue because the board is also facing budget cuts from the government,” he claimed.

He said “The PSB will give it serious consideration if it receives the request from the PVF.”