DOHA: The delegation of the Qatari men first volleyball team left on Monday for Slovenia to set up an external camp that will be held between August 16 and 28, in preparation for the 21st Asian Championship to be held in Japan next September with the participation of 16 teams.

During the external camp, the Qatari team will hold a number of friendly matches, most notably with the Slovenia national team, before heading to Japan next September to participate in the Asian Championship.

The draw for the Asian Championship placed Qatar in the first group, which includes Japan, India and Bahrain. This group was classified as one of the strongest groups in the tournament.

The Qatari team will start their journey in the tournament against Japan on September 12, then the Indian team on the 13th, before concluding their matches in the first round on September 14 against the Bahraini national team.

This is the first Asian participation for the Qatari team since the last foreign participation in 2019, which was held in the Iranian capital, Tehran. The team was supposed to participate in the Gulf Games last year 2020, but the tournament was postponed due to the current health conditions imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).