Pak youth team crush NZ on debut

KARACHI: Pakistan youth volleyball team on Friday made a golden debut when they crushed New Zealand 3-0 in their group opener of the 12th Asian Men’s Under-18 Volleyball Championship in Tabriz, Iran.Pakistan’s colts, who are featuring for the first time in the 18-team event, won the first set 25-18. In the second set, Pakistani spikers kept the pressure up and doubled their lead with a 25-12 easy victory.Hamid Movahedi’s charges kept their momentum in the third set as well, clinching it 25-11 to complete a comfortable victory. Pakistan will now play in the next phase as group winners. Uzbekistan, the third team in the group, failed to show up for the event.Movahedi was happy with his team’s fine start. “The team played really well,” Movahedi told ‘The News’ from Tabriz after the match.“All the boys put in their best. Our analyst, who is from Iran, played a key role,” he added.Movahedi made it clear that all the contesting teams would be playing at the same level. Earlier, as per the new format the top nine sides had to play in Division-1 and the remaining nine had to show their worth in Division-2 but Movahedi said that all nations had protested against that format and so the organisers reconsidered their decision.“Now all will play at the same level,” he said.Pakistan Volleyball Federation’s (PVF) secretary Shah Naeem told ‘The News’ that it was a stunning show from Pakistan team on debut. “Full marks to the boys as they gave a stunning performance,” Shah said.He said these boys are Pakistan’s future. “If we keep investing in them we will be able to form a fighting senior team,” Shah said. However, he was quick to add if PVF hired another coach through government assistance, Movahedi would be assigned to work with the juniors only.“Movahedi knows how to develop youngsters and if we got another coach he would be kept with the seniors and the Iranian would give all his time to the juniors,” the official said.

from The News International - Sports https://ift.tt/2ySIDfj