Doha: Qatar are placed in Group ‘G’ along with India and Uzbekistan in the 17th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship to be hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from September 28 to October 3 later this year.
The Dubai Sports Council (DSC) and a number of government bodies will join the UAE Volleyball Association (working under the umbrella of the Asian Volleyball Confederation and the world body FIVB) to stage the event. The 78 matches of the Asian championship featuring 24 nations will be held at the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Sports Complex in Dubai.
The top two nations from the three-team groups will advance to the quarter-finals phase followed by the penultimate rounds and the summit clash.
The Asian Volleyball Championship is organised biannually by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) and this is the first time-ever that this prestigious event is being held in the UAE. Bahrain hosted the second edition in 1979, Kuwait the fourth edition in 1987 and Qatar the ninth edition in 1997.
The competition will feature the participation of all the major Asian teams, including current champion Iran, runner-up China, Australia, Japan and Korea.
Hosts UAE will play alongside Jordan and Indonesia in Group ‘A’ while Australia - the team with the best world ranking in Asia at No. 11 - will head Group B along with Bahrain and Myanmar. Iran, who clinched theirfirst ever gold medal at the last edition held in Teheran, will commence the defence of their title in Group ‘C’ against Kuwait and Kazakhstan.
China, who went to the top place for three times but lost to hosts Iran in Tehran in 2011, will be up against Saudi Arabia and Chinese Taipei in Group ‘D’.
Japan, winners of seven titles since the inception of this competition in 1975, are in Group ‘E’.
QNA
