KYRGYZSTAN, SRI LANKA TO FIGHT IT OUT FOR 5TH PLACE AT CAVA WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL CHALLENGE CUP

Kyrgyzstan powered past Maldives in straight sets and Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh in lopsided affair in the classification round for 5th-8th places in the Central Asian Volleyball Association (CAVA) Women’s Volleyball Challenge Cup at NSC Covered Hall in Kathmandu, Nepal on Thursday.

Kyrgyzstan had already claimed their first victory in the one-week tournament following their comfortable straight-set win against Bangladesh on Wednesday and completed their campaign in the pool round-robin preliminaries as the third place in Pool A.

Contesting their 5th-8th playoff encounter against Pool B fourth place Maldives on Thursday, Kyrgyzstan relied on powerful attacks from Kumarbekova, who topscored with 11 points for the team in their previous match against Bangladesh.

Despite a strong challenge from the Maldivians, Kumarbekova joined forces with Kadyrova, Alizhan Kyzy, Rasulbek Kyzy and Mamatzhan Kyzy to help Kyrgyzstan pull off impressive straight-set 25-20, 25-20, 25-15 victory.

Kumarbekova remained a major force of the team to score 11 points for Kyrgyzstan. Kadyrova added 9 points, as Alizhan Kyzy, Rasulbek Kyzy and Mamatzhan Kyzy kept good company to score 8 points apiece for the winning side. Hawwa led Maldives with 10 points.

In the other match, Sri Lanka, which had already tasted first win in the tournament following their straight-set triumph against Maldives in the pool play, breezed past Bangladesh in easy match 25-16, 25-15, 25-7 on Thursday.

Thilini, who led Sri Lanka with 14 points in their previous match against Maldives, remained the top scorer of the team after contributing 13 points. No Bangladeshi player scored double digits in this match. Sabina scored only 5 points in the team’s loss.

Following their comfortable victories on Thursday, Kyrgyzstan and Sri Lanka will next battle it out for the 5th place on Saturday, May 27. Two winless teams, Maldives and Bangladesh, will contest the 7th-8th playoff clash on the same day.

Meanwhile, India will challenge Uzbekistan, while Kazakhstan go up against hosts Nepal in the highly-anticipated semifinals, due to be held on Friday, May 26. The two winning teams will set up the final showdown on Sunday, May 28, with the two losers fighting it out for bronze medal on the same day.