Pakistan clear first hurdle with victory over Maldives: World volleyball qualifiers
A clean sweep against Macau, Bangladesh and Maldives helped Pakistan enter the second round of the championship.
Pakistan will now join India, Iran and Saudi Arabia to contest in the second qualifiers slated to be held in May in Iran.
The top two teams from the second round will join Japan and Korea in the third round which will 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.
Pakistan’s ace spiker Naseer Ahmed, middle blocker Mohib Rasool, captain Zaheer Abbas, receiver Shahrukh and setter Zahid Bashir performed to the best of their potential in the last round robin league match of the tournament.
Pakistan appeared to be unmatchable in all areas of the game, receiving, smashing, good oncourt communication and some hard hitting smashes.
The hosts won the first set 25-13.
In the second set some superb saves and returns by Imran Shah, helped Pakistan save a few important points.
Maldives could not contain rapid smashes and good blocking led by Naseer and Zaheer from Pakistan.
Maldivians seemed to be helpless against the fierce onslaught of the Pakistani spikers and crumbled under the pressure losing the set 25-12.
However, the visitors put up a tough fight in the third set, after displaying some long rallies and blocking some guaranteed smash points against them.
Both the teams fought neck to neck as the points table moved 1-2, 2-2, 3-3 and 4-3.
Pakistan eventually cemerged victorious winning 25-16.
The assistant coach of Pakistan squad Mohammad Jameel told Dawn: “After sweeping the first qualifying round of the World Championship our team will be featuring in two practice tournaments in China and Kazakhstan.”
The upcoming two tours, he said, would help Pakistan prepare for the second qualifying round with added international exposure.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh walloped Macau 3-1 to qualify for the second round of Championship.
In the first set of the match Bangladeshi ace spikers played the major role and confirmed win at 25-14.
Macau stunned Bangladesh in the second set as they lifted the second set 25-23 to level the match 1-1.
Bangladesh, however, changed their strategy with acceleration in smashing as they used different quick combinations and left their opponents helpless in blocking and won the third set 25-11.
In the decider, Macau failed to settle down on the court against their opponents who displayed their best technique to win the match set 25-20.