UAE spiked in Dubai volleyball opener

Beaten by Lebanon and the UAE coach Zakaria admits team loss was result of poor preparation.

Rashid Ayoob, right, of UAE strikes the ball against Lebanon at the Al Shabab Club.

DUBAI // The UAE's lack of a preparation came back to haunt them as the hosts crashed to a straight-sets defeat to Lebanon in their opener of the 12th Sheikh Rashid International Volleyball Tournament.

With an international match in more than 10 months, the players got together just 20 days ago under Ahmed Zakaria, the new coach, and their match-rust became obvious in the 22-25, 24-26, 19-25 defeat against Lebanon.

"We have many problems with players," said Zakaria, a former coach of the Egypt national team who took over the UAE job only a month ago. "We are missing five or six good players because some had problems at their job while others are injured." Bader al Manae, the UAE captain, also agreed with his coach, admitting the lack of time together had hurt the UAE's cause in a match that they could have won.

"I think we played really well, to the best of our abilities," al Manae said. "The problem is we did not get much time to prepare for this tournament. We have just spent two and a half weeks together. "We had an eight-day camp in Egypt and than we were training here in Ajman. We have not played an international match in 10 months. So given the circumstances, I am happy with the level we showed here."

The UAE play Iran next, at 6pm today, and Zakaria is hoping to iron out the flaws in their game and put up a better show against the tournament favourites. "This is the first match and we were hoping to start off with a win," Zakaria said. "We made too many mistakes, especially in the first set. We also had a very good chance of winning the second set. "Now we will try to work on these mistakes and solve our problems in defence and blocking. We have a shortage of players for different positions. Our levels are not good at the moment, but we are trying to make a good side. My long-term goal is to take the UAE into the top 10 of Asia."

In the opening match of the tournament, Iran, the top-ranked team in the fray, defeated Tunisia 25-18, 25-20, 25-18 to confirm their tags as favourites to add to the two titles they have won here. Akbari Payman, the Iran coach, however, has warned against harbouring such high expectations from his young side, who have only two players with any considerable international experience. "Tunisia are a very good and they are just coming back after participating in the World Championship," he said. "So we spent a lot of time planning for this match against Tunisia and we are happy.

"But every match is important. Our players did very well in this match, but maybe they could play badly in the next game. So we have to guard against any slip-ups." Meanwhile, the UAE has been chosen to host the world's first beach volleyball centre at Ajman. The decision was revealed yesterday by Dr Saleh bin Nasser, the executive vice-president of the Federation Internationale de Volleyball and president of the Asian Volleyball Confederation.

"The development centre will help promote the sport here," said Dr Salah. "Coaches, referees and even the players will be trained here in the sport, since it is very different from traditional volleyball."

Schedule
Today
4pm: Lebanon v India
6pm: Iran v UAE
8pm: Tunisia v Pakistan

Tomorrow
4pm: UAE v Tunisia
6pm: Pakistan v Lebanon
8pm: India v Iran

Tuesday
4pm: UAE v India
6pm: Tunisia v Lebanon
8pm: Iran v Pakistan

Wednesday
4pm: Lebanon v Iran
6pm: Pakistan v UAE
8pm: India v Tunisia