ISLAMABAD, Jan 21: Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) on Wednesday announced a 12-member squad for the first qualifying round of the World Volleyball Championship-2010.

PVF hosts the first qualifying round of the championship at the Pakistan Sports Complex from January 28-30.

Speaking at a press conference here at the Pakistan Sports Complex, PVF Chairman Mohammad Yaqoob said: “We are hopeful to qualify for the second round as the selected players have potential to perform their best against any team.”

Two top teams from the first round will qualify for the second round slated to be held in Thailand in May this year.

The top two teams from the second round will join Japan and Korea in the third round to be hosted by Japan in August.

The leading side of the third round will make it to the World Championship, scheduled to be held in Italy in October 2010.

“The inaugural match of the event will be played between Pakistan and Macau,” said the chairman. “Zaheer Abbas would lead the green shirts,” he added.

Pakistan will feature in their league match against Bangladesh and Maldives on Jan 29 and 30, respectively.

Regarding a possible series with India, Yaqoob said: “If relations with India are revived then we will definitely visit the neighboring country in June this year.”

Meanwhile, the Iranian coach Ali Reza Moameri told Dawn: “We have been practicing for the last three months and are hopeful to get first place in our round.”

Twenty-two players were participating in the camp under the Iranian coach while 12 top performers were selected by the federation.

It will be for the first time, he said, that the Pakistani team would be assisted by an Iranian technical video analyzer.

“The Iranian expert will help us before, during and after the game,” he explained.

Commenting about the strength of the Pakistan squad, he pointed out: “Nine out of 12 players are under 23 years of age.”

Regarding the height of the players Reza said that the average height of the Pakistani players was 197cm.

Team: Zaheer Abbas, Shah Rukh, Hassan Abbas, Pir Bakhsh Yasin, Zahid Bashir, Mohib Rasool, Shujja Abbas, Imdad Hussain, Naseer Ahmed, Zaheer Khan, Farooq Khan and Mohammad Ismail Khan.