The Qatar Volleyball Association (QVA) has decided to relieve national coach Juan Manuel Cichello of his job.
The Argentinian, who took over the reins in February, 2014, had reportedly expressed his interest to work with a team which is competing in next year’s Rio Olympics and has taken up the job as the assistant coach of Iran.
Asian powerhouse Iran have a big chance to qualify for the Rio Games and recently replaced Serb Slobodan Kovac with Argentinian Raul Lozano as their head coach.
It is Cichello’s second term as Iran’s assistant coach, having previously worked under compatriot Julio Velasco for three years from ’11.
Under Cichello, Qatar produced good results including finishing sixth at the ’14 Incheon Asian Games and an all-time high of fourth at the Asian Championship held in Tehran, Iran, this year.
The last competitive outing for Qatar under the 40-year-old was the GCC Championship in September in Riyadh, where they finished as runners-up to Bahrain.
Though Qatar have no international commitments till the World League, to be held in the Netherlands in June, ’16, the search is on for Cichello’s successor.