Dubai: The UAE national volleyball team yesterday began preparations for the Asian Games to be held in Doha, Qatar in December.
The UAE team will also take part in the volleyball tournament which will be held in the UAE during the Gulf Cup in January 2007.
The team started a one-week training camp in the Abu Dhabi Armed Forces officers club under Serbian coach Vesko Vukovic.
The daily training sessions will be held at the Al Jazira club indoor sports hall. The training will continue morning and night until they leave for France on November 8 for a two- week training camp where they play several warm-up matches against French clubs to gain more experience before taking part in the Asian Games in Doha from December 1 - 15.
After returning from France on December 22, the team will continue training until leaving to Doha with the UAE delegation at the end of November.
The UAE coach selected 18 players for the training camp in Abu Dhabi.
The team is a good mixture of experienced players from the senior team and young players from the under 19 team who won the GCC tournament held last August in Abu Dhabi.
The 18 players are: Rashid Ayoub, Ali Bilal, Ahmad Ebrahim (Al Nasr club), Mohammad Juma Trawri, Hasan Abbas, Badr Al Mannai, Saleh Mehboub (Al Ahli), Majid Thani, Walid Al Asley, Khalid Hamza (Al Shabab), Hasan Majed, Mubarak Khodoum, Hasan Al Attas (Bani Yas), Hamed Omar, Saif Rashid (Al Jazira), Hasan Rajab (Al Wasl), Mohammad Shamal (Al Ain), Mohammad Fairuz (Ajman).
The UAE team will play in group D in the Asian Games in Doha. The group also include Palestine, Hong Kong and Turkmenistan.
