Youth volleyball team manager unhappy with build-up

The UAE youth national volleyball team leave for Doha today to participate in the 9th Asian youth tournament from September 3-11.

But Khairy Mahboub, the UAE youth team manager, expressed his dissatisfaction with the team's preparation for the tournament.

"We did not perform well in the GCC tournament in Kuwait," he said. "Some of the injured players have not yet recovered and will not go to Doha."

Mahboub said the preparation period for the Rashid International volleyball championship, which was held prior to the GCC tournament last month, was not good and the team did not benefit from it.

"We held a two-week training camp in Azerbaijan. We trained morning and afternoon, but could not play strong warm-up matches," he said. "We lost all three matches in the Rashid tournament against India, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

"In Kuwait, we won two matches, lost three and finished fourth. I think the same circumstances will affect us in Doha, because we will miss key players. However, I hope the rest of the players will perform well and fight hard in all the four matches."

Four teams, Qatar, China, Iran, India, have qualified automatically for the quarterfinals. The other 15 teams have been divided into four groups.

The top team of each group qualify for the quarterfinals to join the other top four seeded sides.