Qatar roped in Argentine coach Camilo Soto for its national volleyball team yesterday.
“It’s a pleasure to be here. It’s a good step in my career. I have heard about Qatar volleyball scene and I think the players have the potential but there is room for improvement,” Soto, said after signing the contract with Qatar Volleyball Association (QVA) president Ali Ghanim al-Kuwari.
Also present on the occasion was QVA board member and former player Mubarak Eid.
Soto will succeed Italian Roberto Piazza, who left Qatar after World Volleyball League, and will formally assume coaching duties in April after finishing his present term with the Argentine club Gigantes del Sur based in Neuquen.
“I am leaving tomorrow for Argentina and will be back in the last week of March or in first week of April depending on my team’s campaign in the league back in Argentina,” Soto, who won the 2017 FIVB Men’s U-23 World Championship in Cairo in August as Argentina head coach, said.
It means he will have very little time for the FIVB World Challenge, which will begin in June 2018 with 20 teams, including Qatar.
“Yes, I know I have very little time for the World Challenge, but I think I have enough time for the Asian Games,” the 42-year-old coach, who played as outside hitter during his playing days, said. The Asian Games will begin on August 18 in Jakarta.
Talking about the new coach, QVA president al-Kuwari said, “We’re honoured to sign a well-known coach in Soto for the Qatar team. We’ll be working with him for the development and growth of the national team.
“We have selected him for the post considering his understanding of young players as he has won FIVB Under-23 World Championship as coach and we have several players in that age group in our team,” the president said.
Soto has worked with Argentina’s junior teams in the past, and has won the Pan-American Cup, besides finishing second in the U-22 South American Championship in 2016.
Talking about his plans for Qatar team Soto said he would like to have two teams.
 “I prefer to have two teams like ‘A’ and ‘B’, but I don’t know whether it is logistically possible or not. It is always better to have a large pool of players,” he said.