Volleyball World Championship: Qatar team depart for Philippines Tuesday

The Qatari volleyball team will depart for Manila on Tuesday, to participate in the FIVB Volleyball World Championship, hosted by the Philippines from September 12 to 28.This is the second participation for the Qatari team in the FIVB Volleyball World Championship, following their debut appearance in the 2022 edition held in Poland and Slovenia.The Qatari team prepared for the tournament through a series of preparations, the last of which was an intensive training camp in Doha, which included seven friendly matches: two against Egypt, two against Iran, and three against Ukraine.The tournament draw placed the Qatari team in Group B, which also includes Poland, the world's top-ranked team and the defending champion, the Netherlands, and Romania.The Qatari national team will begin their campaign against the Netherlands on Sept 13, followed by a match against Poland two days later. The first round will conclude with a match against Romania on Sept 17.Saeed Jumaa Al Hitmi, a member of the Qatar Volleyball Association's Board of Directors and head of the national team's delegation to the tournament, confirmed that preparations were conducted according to a well-thought-out plan, including an intensive internal training camp that included strong matches against various schools.Al Hitmi said in a statement Monday: "This participation represents an important opportunity for our national team to gain additional experience in facing the elite international teams participating in the tournament."He added: "The task will not be easy, but our victory in the West Asian Championship, which was recently held in Bahrain, gave the team a significant morale boost, which is a strong incentive to present a good image during our second participation in the World Championship."