The UAE basketball team suffered a heavy defeat against hosts Turkey in their first match in Group A of the World Universities' Games in Turkey.
Turkey won 124-46.
The match was a one-sided affair with the Turkish players dominating the game from start to the end.
The result was expected given the state of the team. They could only field six players and were without a coach. Team captain Khalifa Al Shaiba doubled as the team coach.
"What can you expect from an incomplete team," said Al Shaiba. "The result made it clear that the team was not prepared well for this tough tournament.
"We are missing six of our tallest players whose absence has affected our team badly." Al Shaiba claimed that the current team was not responsible for the loss.
"The players gave their best and presented what they can do. I think the blame should be directed somewhere else and not at the players. How can we play in a strong tournament like the WUG with six players and without a coach or a physio," he said.
Meanwhile the UAE volleyball team lost its second match when they were defeated 3-0 by Italy (25-16, 25-16 and 25-17).
UAE also lost the first match against Korea by a similar margin - 3-0 (25-21, 25-21 and 25-22).
Abdullah Ali Al Wahedi, the UAE coach, said the two defeats showed that UAE volleyball needs a lot more to compete against strong teams.
"When we participate in such strong tournaments, we have to know our real standard," he said.
"I think we met strong teams. Playing against them showed us how these countries are improving and how we still need a lot of experience and hard work to compete and beat them."
Al Wahedi said that the UAE team is playing in a strong group and it's not easy to surpass them and qualify to the second round.
"Brazil, Germany, Italy and Korea are favoured to win the volleyball gold medal. I think it will be a good preparation for the GCC tournament after two weeks," Al Wahedi said.
