The Pakistan Army Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inter-Region Boys Volleyball Championship got under-way here at Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Indoor Hall on Wednesday.
Commandant CC Engineering Corps of the 11 Corps Brig. Syed Zuraz Mehmood was the chief guest on this occasion who formally inaugurated the League to be organized jointly by Pakistan Army and Directorate General Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He was accompanied by Director General Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Abdul Nasir Moh-mand, former coach national volleyball team and Secretary General KP Volleyball Association Khalid Waqar Chamkani, Col. Adeel, Regional Sports Officer Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Malakand, Hazara, Bannu, Peshawar, and a team from Peshawar Volleyball Academy, players and officials were also present.
The colourful ceremony was started from the recitation of Holy Quran by Mikail of Peshawar, followed by the national anthem and March Past of all the participating eight teams, seven from as many Regions and one from Peshawar Volleyball Academy.
Brig. Syed Duraz of Engineering Corps for-mally cut the ribbon during the opening ceremony. Coaches and managers of the eight participation teams were introduced to him. Director Operation Salim Raza, Deputy Director Sports Amir Zahir Shah, Regional Sports Officers Mardan Suliman Khan, Peshawar (Zakir Ullah), Dera Ismail Khan (Anwar Kamal Burki), Kohat (Sajid Afridi), Malakand (Shakeel Ur Rehman), Hazara (Ahmad Zaman), Bannu (Shafqat Ullah), coaches Khalid Khan, Wasif Ullah, Administrator Peshawar Sports Complex Syed Jaffar Shah, players and spectators were also present.
Speaking on this occasion, Brig. Duraz said that it is a special directive of the Corps Commander Peshawar Lt. Gen. Hassan Azhar Hayat to hold open trials and short-listed players from each of the seven regions including Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Kohat, Mardan, Malakand, Hazara and Peshawar in order to promote the game of volleyball in all across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is full of volleyball potential but during the last National Championship Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remained at No. 6 position, which is not justified at any level that is why it was decided to hold open trials, short-list talented players and provide them good coaching under qualified coaches.
He said, we have decided to have international coaching facilities for the players besides the se-lected top 20 players of the U16, 22, U18 and U21 who would be kept under rigorous training and coaching for a longer duration. During the training these selected and short-listed players would be provided honorarium besides proper diet as well.
Brig Duraz said that eight teams have been di-vided in two groups in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inter-Regional Boys Volleyball League where two teams would qualify for the semi-finals and final according to round robin league.
A selection committee, he said, would also monitor the performance of the players before short-listing them for the final team. He assured that all facilities would be ensured to the players during the League. He said in the first phase trials were conducted in each of the Regional Headquarters, followed by League competitions and soon after the League, the names of the selection probables would be announced to be trained and coached under qualified coaches.
Earlier, in the first match Peshawar Academy team defeated Hazara Region by 3-2 in a thrilling match. Peshawar Academy team won the first two sets by 25-23 and 25-21 but failed to click and thus Hazara Region staged a comeback and won the set by 22-25 and 23-25. It was the last and decisive set won by Peshawar at 15-9.—APP
