Sand a first for beach volleyballers

DOHA, Dec 2 (Reuters) The quest for gold will be a little tricky for the Asian Games beach volleyball teams representing Mongolia and Palestine -- neither has played on sand before.

Despite having been part of the Games since 1958, the two teams have never entered the sport before and their players admit a podium finish on the Doha desert sand would be wishful thinking.

''Beach volleyball in Mongolia is very difficult because we don't have any beaches,'' said Bayarmaa Tsogtbaatar, an indoor player who contests the women's event with partner Yarinpil Enkhmaa.

''There is a lot of sand in the Gobi desert but here in Doha it will be the first time we play on sand. It's interesting to try it out and experience it.'' ''I've never thought about winning a medal. If we did win, we would be very famous in Mongolia,'' she added.

NO FACILITIES Beach courts are also a new thing for strife-torn Palestine, whose indoor volleyball team withdrew from the Games last week after being stranded in Gaza.

''We don't have beach volleyball facilities in our country -- we don't have any sand courts,'' said Rafi Asfour, a teacher who admits he rarely sees his playing partner Ayman Odeh.

''We have no training uniform and I had to pay to get here myself.'' Cash-strapped Cambodia, which has not won an Asian Games medal for 36 years, has asked its indoor volleyball coach to switch sports for the next two weeks.

Ham Ky Meng said the Kingdom had no money to play the sport so he asked two of its indoor players to start training on the sand instead.

''For this event, I selected two players from the indoor volleyball team and we started a little beach volleyball training three months ago,'' he said.

''After this, we will return to indoor volleyball.'' The beach volleyball event got underway at Sports City today, with China expected to dominate both the men's and women's contests.

REUTERS PDS PM1932