JEDDAH, 2 August 2007 — The Saudi national volleyball team flew yesterday to Serbia for further training there in preparation for the 14th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia from Sept. 1 to 9.
They will be in Serbia until Aug. 25. The team aim to win the Jakarta event in order for them to qualify to the Beijing 16th Asian Games.
The team comprised the 15 players namely Ismael Al-Khaibary, Ahmed Al-Bakheit, Yahya Hanash, Shareif Al-Khalifah, Naif Al-Buhassoun, Faris Al-Amri, Adnan Al-Mana, Asaad Azouz, Khalil Hijji, Misfri Al-Bishi, Majid Al-Jihani, Yassir Al-Makawni, Abdullah Al-Bahli, Ibrahim Al-Harbi and Ali Al-Yami, coach Serbian Radoslav Svircev, assistant coach Wavan Kirkovich, and team manager Saleh Al-Qasem.
Despite the injury to Al-Bishi, Al-Qasem said the prized player joined the trip due to his value to the team and also to continue his treatment as soon as possible.
The squad already finished two training camps — in Riyadh from July 1 - 5, and in Taif from July 5 – 25. This would also be a preparation period for the 11th Pan Arab Games to be held in Egypt from Nov. 11 to 25.
The upcoming event in Jakarta attracted 17 teams namely Qatar, Maldives, Taipei, Japan, Iran, Pakistan, Vietnam, China, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Korea, India, Kazakhstan, UAE, Australia and host Indonesia.
Al-Qasem said hopes are high of winning the cup given that most of the team members are from Hilal club, who are enjoying a spectacular season. Hilal succeeded in placing second and winning the silver medal in the 2007 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship in June in Bahrain. Hilal also won the Saudi Volleyball Federation Cup this year, and became GCC champions too.
The national team achieved the best-ever finish by Saudi Arabia in the men’s volleyball in the Asian Games when they won the bronze medal in last December’s Asiad in Doha. This inspired their benefactor, a businessman, to continue his support of the team.
