Dubai: Assistant coach Awad Al Mansouri is confident the UAE’s young players can use their experience of playing in the FIVB Men’s U23 World Championship here to go on and become the backbone of the senior national team within the next few years.
The UAE ended sixth in Pool A, losing all five matches in the preliminary round. But the silver lining for the hosts is the expected long-term benefits of taking on some top volleyball nations — Cuba, Italy, Iran, South Korea and Egypt.
One of the highlights for the UAE was a fighting 3-1 loss to Egypt, which ensured they had a better record than Mexico, who didn’t win a single set in Pool B.
“We feel this tournament has been a huge learning curve for us as a team. We re-discovered some of our players during the competition and, now that they have so much of belief in themselves, we are confident they will carry this forward and be an integral part of the senior team in the next two or three years,” Al Mansouri told Gulf News.
“We could not have asked more from this team. We need to be realistic as we were competing against the likes of Iran, Cuba and Italy. In one set we were tied 26-26 against Cuba and that is huge for us as Cuba is one of the top teams with a tradition in volleyball. For us, all this means experience that we can carry forward to the future.”
The UAE’s next assignment will be the Gulf Volleyball Championship to be held in Saudi Arabia in October.
“For the competition in Saudi Arabia we have already decided to draft in three or four senior players within this young squad so that there is a proper transition within the UAE squad. And we may be able to get a player or two once the domestic season starts from September 4,” Al Mansouri said.
“Think of the benefits from this competition when you consider that some of our players don’t even make the cut with their club teams. So to bring them together against such strong teams marks a huge improvement for volleyball here along with a new start for this new generation of players.”
