Dubai: Defending champions Iran and Chinese Taipei started on a winning note, while the Pakistan team administrators threatened to sue a rival body as the 17th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championships got under way here yesterday.
The nine-day competition, which is being held simultaneously at two Dubai venues, saw Iran make light work of Kazakhstan 3-0, while the young Chinese Taipei side with an average age of 23 years took their time before recording an identical 3-0 win over Saudi Arabia at the Hamdan Sports Complex.
At the Al Nasr Club, Sri Lanka blanked Oman 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-19) and Bahrain skipped to a 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-20, 25-22) win over Myanmar in the two early matches. Iraq were due to play Afghanistan in the late match.
Meanwhile, the ugly face of internal politics created a stir in the tournament with the non-arrival of the Pakistan national team. Organisers were forced to drop them and make changes in the competition schedule after reportedly being deceived by an e-mail from a parallel volleyball federation, in which they were informed of the country’s inability to participate.
Media in Pakistan reported the Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) threatening to ‘sue the illegal parallel body in a court of law’.
“The members of the PVF are furious over the anti-volleyball activity of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), who is responsible for creating such a parallel body. They believe that PSB under the command of a junior, incompetent and controversial Director General, Amir Hamza Gilani, who is also facing corruption charges, is ruling over so-called sports federations and illegal Olympic body,” a statement in the Pakistan media said.
The 24-team competition had already been denied two teams following the withdrawal of Jordan and Indonesia last week. And with Pakistan not arriving as scheduled on September 26, organisers the UAE Volleyball Association (UAE VA) moved Thailand into Group H along with Lebanon, and Uzbekistan into Group A with hosts UAE.
A high-ranking official from the UAE VA refrained from commenting on the Pakistan scenario, saying it’s an internal matter for the federation to sort out.
The tournament was formally opened by Mattar Al Tayer, Vice Chairman of Dubai Sports Council (DSC), in the presence of Dr. Saleh Bin Nasser, President of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC), Yousuf Al Mulla, President of the UAE VA, and Dr. Ahmad Sa’ad Al Sharif, General Secretary of the DSC.
The 21 participating teams have been divided into eight pools for the preliminary round that will conclude on Monday. From Tuesday, the classification matches will commence, with the finals scheduled for October 6.
