Central Asian Volleyball Championship kicks off in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: The 2nd Central Asian Volleyball Association (CAVA) Nation’s Volleyball League 2024 kicked off in Islamabad today and will continue till May 17 at the Liaqat Gymnasium in Pakistan Sports Complex.

Six teams including Iran, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and hosts Pakistan will strut their stuff to vie for top honors in the Central Zone.

Yesterday, all the competing teams’ captains except Afghanistan (who arrived late on Friday), unveiled the CAVA Nation’s Volleyball League Trophy in the federal capital Islamabad.

In the first fixture of the tournament, Iran will take on Turkmenistan and Pakistan will play their opening match later on Saturday against Afghanistan. Kyrgyzstan and Sri Lanka match is also scheduled for today.

The opening ceremony of the championship will be held late today at 5;30 pm (PST). Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Youth Program, Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan will grace the launching ceremony as the chief guest.

As anticipation builds for this top-tier event, volleyball enthusiasts can watch action from Liaquat Gymnasium for free.

Chairman of Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) Ch Mohammad Yaqoob highlighted the importance of the event that is being participated by the best teams around the region.

“It will be just the beginning of international tournaments and series Pakistan are to play in months to come. As I have already shared with you, Australia will be here later this month on their first-ever visit to Pakistan. Both the teams will then head for Bahrain for the Challenge Cup. We are also trying to lure international teams to Pakistan for a series of matches later this month,” he said

“We are also planning to hold our league later this year. What we want is to break even to start with and hopefully, things would become favorable with the time.” PVF chief called on fans to come and watch the action live at the gymnasium.

Later, he praised the government headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for their all-out support for this particular event.”