Bangkok, Thailand, December 23, 2022 – Hosts Bangladesh powered past Nepal in hard-fought straight sets and Kyrgyzstan overcame Sri Lanka’s robust challenge for dramatic 3-1 win on the opening day of the 2022 Central Asian Volleyball Association (CAVA) Men’s U23 Volleyball Championship at Shaheed Suhrawardi National Indoor Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka on Thursday.
The championship is being held between December 22 and 26, with Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan and hosts Bangladesh competing in round-robin first round. After that, the best-ranked team will take on the fourth-ranked side in the first semifinal clash and the second and third places fight it out in the second encounter.
On Thursday, Bangladesh pulled off a hard-fought straight-set 26-24, 25-22, 25-21 win against Nepal, while Kyrgyzstan struggled to beat Sri Lanka in four-setter 25-21, 25-22, 22-25, 25-18.
Mr Atiqul Islam, President of Bangladesh Volleyball Federation, presided over the opening ceremony on Thursday, attended by the organisers and the Control Committee Members including Technical Delegate Mr Ahmed Nasheed from Maldives and Referee Delegate Mr Beny Coonghe Santiago from India.
Shortly after the ceremony, the curtain-raiser to the five-day competition was held, with hosts Bangladesh taking on Nepal. It turned a very tough match because the strong visitors were playing really, good volleyball.
Nepal, trailing 2-8 in the first set, managed to equalize 10-10 and surged ahead 12-10. However, they could not maintain their form and went down narrowly to the host side 24-26 in the hard-fought first set.
In the second set, Nepal gained the upper hand 7-2, but Bangladesh gradually regained their momentum and bounced back mightily to win the thrilling second set 25-22. The visitors continued to display a dominant performance in the third set as well, but found the host side too hot to handle to go down in the third set 21-25. Bangladesh eventually beat Nepal in straight sets to bag their first 3 points.
Shafin carried the Bangladesh’s offence with 10 attack points from 24 attempts, while K C led Nepal with 13 points. Bangladesh’s captain and setter Md Al Amin became Man of the Match.
The hosts side will next go up against Kyrgyzstan on Friday, with Nepal playing Sri Lanka to fight for their first win in this championship.
In the second encounter, Kyrgyzstan got their campaign off to a good start following their exceptional 3-1 win against Sri Lanka, which…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Asian Volleyball Confederation…