Photo: Collected
Pakistan volleyball team captain Murad Jehan has expressed anger over mismanagement at the Asian Games. He alleges that his team had to face serious logistical or management problems before the match against Uzbekistan.
Murad said the team’s bus was taken to the wrong gymnasium exactly one hour before the start of the match. As a result, the players had to do their preparation inside the bus itself and effectively got no time to warm up. On his Instagram, he wrote that Japan has undermined the dignity and discipline of the Asian Games. He termed this ‘shameful’ situation ‘truly disappointing’.
He alleged that the athletes also had to face food problems repeatedly. He claims that when the team returned to the hotel after training, the players were often deprived of food as the hotel restaurant was closed. He wrote that sometimes, on returning after training, the hotel restaurant would be found closed and no food available.
Indian athletes had also faced a similar food crisis in Nagoya. Pakistan began their men’s volleyball campaign yesterday with a 3-1 set win against Kazakhstan. They won the first two sets 25-16 and 25-22, lost the third set 25-17 and took the fourth set 25-20.
Despite various adversities, Pakistan beat Uzbekistan 3-0 in sets in their second preliminary round match of ‘Pool A’ on Monday (28 September). They are now preparing for their last group-stage match against hosts Japan. With this win they have taken the top spot in the group. It may be noted that the top two teams from each pool advance to the quarter-finals.
Since the introduction of volleyball’s modern ‘six-a-side’ (six players per team) format, Pakistan have not been able to win any medal in Asian Games volleyball. Their best success came at the 1962 Jakarta Games, where they won the bronze medal. At the 2022 Hangzhou Games, they finished fifth.
The Pakistan team have entered this year’s competition with the aim of surpassing that record, but Murad’s comments have drawn everyone’s attention to the difficult situation off the court.
