STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: India will meet Kazakhstan in the final of CAVA Women’s Volleyball Challenge Cup 2023 held at Kathmandu, Nepal tomorrow.
The Indian senior women’s volleyball team entered the final after beating Uzbekistan by 3-0 sets (25-17, 25-20, 25-15) in the semifinal match and hosts Nepal bowed out of the semi-finals going down to Kazakhstan in the fifth set on Friday.
Indian team captain Nirmal Tanwar, blockers Soorya and Aswini, attacker Anushree and Prerona and setter K.S. Jini were exceptional in the win against Uzbekistan.
The highly competitive match between Nepal and Kazakhstan saw the home team win the second and third set before losing the first, fourth and decisive fifth set with scores of 28-30, 25-16, 25-15, 18-25, 7-15.
Earlier, in the Pool A clash, India remained strong with the likes of Soorya, Nirmal and Anushree, three of team joined the Indian team which picked up silver medal at the last year’s AVC Women’s Challenge Cup in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. Nepal also captured the AVC Central Zone Championship in 2019 and 2021 to their name.
India got off to victorious start against Nepal to bag the first two sets 25-12, 26-24. Cheered on by home crowd at the venue, Nepal hit back gallantly to take the third set 25-21. However, the Indians still held firm in the fourth set as they went on aggressive attacks and effective blocks to win the set thrilling 25-21 and match.
Nirmal chipped in with 19 points for India, while Anushree and Soorya kept good company to add 16 and 14 points respectively.
At the competition of the pool play on Wednesday, India topped Pool A with 9 points from three straight wins, followed by Nepal with 6 points from two wins against one loss. Kyrgyzstan collected 3 points from one win against two losses and winless Bangladesh finished fourth in Pool A with no point awarded.
Prof. (Dr.) Achyuta Samanta-Member of Parliament & President, VFI, S. Vasudevan-Chairman VFI, Raj Kumar-Executive Vice President VFI, Ramavtar Singh Jakhar-Executive Vice President-CZ, Asian Volleyball Confederation, President, Rajasthan State Olympic Association, Anil Choudhary-Secretary General, Sunil Tiwari-Treasurer VFI, Kuldeep Magotra-Associate Secretary VFI and all the office bearers of the Volleyball Federation of India congratulated the team and Coach for their tremendous and mind blowing performance in the championship and wished the team best of luck for final.
Meanwhile, Patron-in-Chief, Volleyball Association of Jammu and Kashmir, Raj Daluja; President, Sidharth Daluja; Chief Executive Officer, Kuldeep Magotra; General Secretary, V K Magotra; Treasurer, R C Sharma; Executive Vice President, H S Gill, Joint Secretary Mohd Tariq and other office bearers of VAJK also congratulated all players and officials for their performance in the championship and extended their wishes for bringing coveted trophy in India.