UAE volleyball team advance with big win

Dubai: The UAE national volleyball team defeated Hong Kong 3-0 (28-26, 25-22, 25-22) in their group D qualifying match to make the second round at the 15th Asian Games in Doha yesterday at the Al Rayan indoor sports hall.

The UAE have now topped the group with Hong Kong finishing second. The former are in a tough group in the second round which includes Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, India and Kuwait.

Vesko Vukovic, the UAE coach, was delighted: "The players performed perfectly in their first match. I think the standard will improve in the coming matches," said Vukovic.

Meanwhile, the UAE Olympic football team meet Uzbekistan today in their first match in group A at the Al Sadd Stadium. They are drawn to take on Tajikistan and Qatar, respectively, in the last match.

The UAE held a training session last night at the venue, where all the players took part except the injured Walid Abbas and Yasir Mattar, who is absent.

French coach Alex Duponte zeroed in on the mistakes committed by his players in the last warm-up match against South Korea, which UAE lost 0-2.

Meanwhile, the UAE basketball team returned home even before the formal opening ceremony after they lost to Kazakhstan. The basketball association will investigate the case of Jasim Abdul Redha, who did not play in the crucial second match which the UAE lost - and with it the chance to qualify for the second round.

Redha was sent off in the first match against Kuwait which UAE won 80-72. The UAE team manager and technical staff were under the impression that he was suspended for reasons best known to them.

When they finally discovered that he could take part, there were just five minutes left and Kazakhstan had already built up a big difference.