LAHORE: The 1962 Jakarta Asian Games bronze medallists, Pakistan, will be desperately looking to notch a much-needed win against Qatar in the quarter-final of the men’s volleyball event of the 19th Asian Games at the China Textile City Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou on Sunday (today).
The clash begins at 4pm PST.
Qatar, who recently finished with a bronze medal in the Asian Championship in Iran, are a strong side and the Green Shirts will need to use every trick meticulously to leave some impression.
Qatar topped Group E by beating Thailand and Hong Kong before they downed Bahrain 3-1 to reach the quarter-finals.
Pakistan, on the other hand, finished at Group D summit by inflicting a crushing 3-0 defeats on Mongolia and Chinese Taipei. In the round of 12 the Green-shirts defeated three-time champions South Korea to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Pakistan’s Brazilian coach Issanaye Ramires Ferraz said they would go all out against Qatar.
“We will go all out to make a place in the semi-finals,” Issanaye told The News from Hangzhou on Saturday.
However, he said that Qatar are strong and they will respect them.
“We will respect Qatar,” Issanaye said. “Qatar are the favourites by the level and experience they have got by playing around the world. There is 60 percent chance of Qatar and 40 percent of Pakistan but we will make our best effort,” Iassanaye said.
The winners of the Pakistan-Qatar quarter-final will meet defending champions Iran in the semi-final on Monday (tomorrow) .
According to the format, which has been termed faulty by many experts, China and Iran directly qualified for the semi-finals due to their higher rankings after winning their round of 12 matches.
Pakistan squad:
Abdul Zaheer, Hamid Yazman, Farooq Haider, Murad Khan, Murad Jehan, Mohammad Hammad, Musawar Khan, Nasir Ali, Usman Faryad Ali, Mubashar Raza (captain), Mohammad Kashif Naved, Afaq Khan; Officials: Issanaye Ramires Ferraz (coach), Naseer Ahmed (manager), Ihsan Iqbal, Armin Golkari (video analyst), Lucas Ferreira Rodrigues (trainer), Saeed Ahmed Khan).
Alam Zeb Safi Alam Zeb Safi is a senior reporter for The News
