Pakistani team puts up below par performance at Olympic Qualifiers – Volleyball news
Men’s national volleyball team of Pakistan recently competed for the Olympic ticket in Sofia, Bulgaria but failed to prove its endeavours.
Pakistan was joined by teams from France, Egypt, and hosts Bulgaria. The competition took centre stage on Friday, June 8 and covered its length at the weekend. According to the set formula of the competition, each team got to play three matches. City of
Sofia in Bulgaria hosted the World Olympic Qualification Tournament, while Arena Armeec provided the backdrop for the crucial matches.
Team Pakistan entered the competition under the command of head coach Hassan Mazhar Hussain and assistant coach Muhammad Akram. Fifteen-player roster of the Green-shirts featured Rasool Mohib, Naeem Jan, Muneer Khan, Ajmal Khan, Syed Shujah Abbas Naqvi,
Muhammad Ismail Khan, Khan Nasir, Asif Nadeem, Ahmed Naseer, Imran Sultan (libero), Binyamin Binyamin, and Mubashir Raza.
In the opening match of the tournament, Pakistan clashed with Bulgaria. The hosts totally profited the home advantage and held off visiting Pakistani squad for 3-0 victory. Vladimir Nikolov of Bulgaria displayed wonderful action on net and led his team to
exquisite victory. None of the Pakistani players could touch the double-figure score. Muhammad Ismail put in great effort and made a total of 28 attack attempts in the match. Nevertheless, he ended up with only nine points. The match lasted for 67 minutes.
Following the loss of opening match, Egypt provided further damage to Pakistan in the second fixture. The Green Shirts failed to overcome the Egyptian counterparts and dropped the match in a similar fashion. Egypt proved to be better in every aspect of the
game and claimed straight set win over Pakistan. The trio of Ahmed Abdelhay, Mohamed Badawy, and Abdellatif Ahmed did a great job and scored double digit scores for Egypt. Abdelhay and Badawy notched up 13 points apiece, while Abdellatif added 10 points.
In the first two matches, Pakistan could not manage to win even a single set. However, the team played comparatively better against France in third match. Pakistan caught a good start in the match and secured the opening stanza with four points, 25-21. France
hit back aggressively in the following set and levelled the game score by posting 25-20 on board. Third set also came successful for France, which dragged Pakistan under pressure.
Pakistani team could not sustain the pressure in the fourth set and dropped the final frame with fair margin of 12 points, 25-13. French hotshots finished the match with 3-1 victory and forced Pakistan to remain without any win in the tournament.
At the end of Olympic Qualification Tournament, Pakistan settled in the bottom slot. France and Egypt ended in 2nd and 3rd positions, while host Bulgaria got hold of the top slot. There was only one Olympic ticket was on stake, which was secured by Bulgaria.
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