In the competitive final held at the covered hall of Dasharath Stadium, Tripureshwar, APF twice came from a set down to defeat New Diamond Academy 24-26, 25-11, 22-25, 25-22, 15-12 in five sets. Saraswati Chaudhary, the best player of the tournament, and Nebica Chaudhary came up with brilliant performances to secure victory for the departmental team.
Winner APF bagged Rs 250,000 and runner-up New Diamond received Rs 125,000 along with trophies and certificates. [break}
Saraswati won a total of 29 points -- 21 from spike, seven from block and one from service -- while Nebica won 22 points for the host. New Diamond skipper Ramila Tandukar earned a total of 37 points -- 36 from spike and one from service.
New Diamond was in trouble after Tandukar looked exhausted in the deciding set. She won three points from spike while Pratibha Mali won five points for New Diamond.
But it was Nebica who rose to the occasion in the last set scoring seven points from spike to clinch the title for the host. APF achieved 11 points from spike and added another four capitalizing on the opponent´s errors. New Diamond collected nine points from spike and three from APF´s mistakes.
Saraswati was awarded a scooter -- the second of her career. The 17-year-old from Dhangadhi was earlier awarded a scooter in the last edition of Dhorpatan Women´s Volleyball as the emerging player. Saraswati, who joined the APF six months ago, credited the achievement to her hard work.
"I am ecstatic to win the tournament organized by my own team. We had worked really hard to keep the trophy at home. The effort of the coach and teammates has helped us win the trophy," Saraswati said.
APF coach Kapil Kishor Shrestha opined that the match was taken to five sets due to the nervousness of his players. "We were defeated by the same team in Pokhara a few months ago, so the players were nervous to meet the same opponent in the final and could not play their natural game. Every department of our team -- spike, block, defense -- is good and the players are also fit, yet they feel nervous when playing against New Diamond."
It was the first major title for APF after a year. APF had last won the Blue Sky Cup Volleyball Tournament in 2069 BS.
Despite the defeat in the final, New Diamond coach Kumar Rai expressed satisfaction over his side´s performance. "APF is the strongest team in women´s volleyball and we put up an excellent show in the final," Rai said. "The players were also nervous in the final. Besides, there was lack of coordination between lifter Kripa Adhikari and spiker Tandukar and the defense was also weak."
Meanwhile, traditional powerhouse Nepal Police, which is going through a rough patch, lost 25-18, 28-26, 25-11 in straight sets against Western Region in the third-place playoff. Western Region received Rs 50,000.
The best players in five different positions -- spike, block, defense, serve and setting -- were awarded Rs 3,000 each while the best coach received Rs 5,000.
Best Award winners
Award Winners Team
Best player Saraswati Chaudhary APF
Best spiker Ramila Tandukar New Diamond
Best blocker Aruna Shahi Western Region
Best server Kripa Adhikari New Diamond
Best setter Binita Budhathoki APF
Best defense Jyoti Chaudhary APF
Best coach Kapil K Shrestha APF
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