Pakistan finishes 9th in Asian Under-21 Beach Volleyball Championships 2019
Pakistan did not qualify for the World Beach Championships 2019 from here but they qualified for the final qualifying tournament which will be staged on 18th June in Thailand.
Pakistan Volleyball Federation sen its Under-21 Men's Beach Volleyball Teams to feature in the AVC Asian U21 Beach Volleyball Championship which concluded yesterday in Thailand.
Zarnab Khan and Afaq Khan made one team, while the other consists of Usman Faryad Ali and Ahmad Mustafa Khan. Two teams represented Pakistan in the event, which also served as qualifiers for the Under-21 World Championships. They were accompanied by their Manager, Ijaz Ahmad and Iranian Coach, Hamid Movahedi.
But on the final day, Pakistan's first team performed well then the other one and over-all they finished at the 9th place in the championship. On the first day of competitions, Afaq and Zarnab stunning defeated the strong Vietnam team on 2-0 but they lost their second string against Iran by 1-2 which ended Pakistan's journey in the event.
While on the second encounter of Pakistan against Chinese Taipei, they defeated their opponent by 2-0. Zarnab and Afaq lost to China in their opener 0-2. However, they created a big upset when they defeated Iran 2-0 in their second outing. Pakistan then lost to Australia 0-2.
“I am satisfied with the way both Afaq and Zarnab performed here,” Movahedi said. “You know the teams here were of high standard. Most of them have strong beach volleyball set-ups but we held only a brief camp and the food was also not that good. I felt that our players lacked in stamina."
Then Pakistan's second team comprising of Usman and Ahmed played three matches in total and lost all of them which resulted in their exit from the game. Usman and Ahmed first lost to Singapore by 2-0 then also lost their second game to Indonesia 0-2 and finally ended by going down to Oman on 1-2.
But although Pakistan did not qualify for the World Beach Championships 2019 from here but they qualified for the final qualifying tournament which will be staged on 18th June in Thailand. A total of about 24 teams will feature in that qualifying round whose matches will be completed in one day. Top 4 teams from that leg will complete the frame for the World Championships.
Pakistan coach Hamid Movahedi confirmed this to a correspondent from Thailand saying,“Yes, we have qualified for the final qualifying round to be held in Bangkok on June 18,”
