Captain of the Maldives national volleyball team, Ishan “Batis” Mohamed said the team’s goal, in the third edition of the Asian Central Zone Men’s Volleyball Championship, is to bring home the gold medal.

On Monday night, speaking on RaajjeTV’s Kulhivaru File program, Mohamed noted that “this is a major tournament”, adding that their goal is to win gold.

“The tournament is being held in our home, main goal of the entire volleyball team is to win the gold medal” he said.

While the team was recently in Thailand for training, Mohamed said that the players and the coaching staff have been working hard to reach their goal.

While two notable players- attacker Shaain “Shaahintey” Mohamed and Ali “Dhigu Ayya” Amir- did not make the team this time, Ashfaq “Ahkalhey” Adam made the cut. He was not chosen for the Maldives team that competed in the same championship last year.

The Asian Men’s Central Zone Volleyball Championship is scheduled for March 22 to 30, in Malé City.

In addition to Maldives, Turkmenistan, Nepal, and Kyrgyzstan are competing in this year’s tournament, with Maldives’ first match against 2016’s runner-up’s, Kyrgyzstan, set for Wednesday. All teams will face each other in round robin format, with the team finishing on top automatically qualifying for the final.

Seven nations competed in the second edition of the championship in 2016; Bangladesh, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Maldives. Host Bangladesh took the title last year.