Nepal took the deciding set 15-8 to seal victory in the first ever meeting between the two sides after both the host and Afghanistan had won two sets each. Earlier, Afghanistan had won the first set 22-25 and the fourth 25-18, while Nepal had won the second and third sets 25-21 and 25-18 respectively. [break]
In another match, Sri Lanka defeated the Maldives 3-1 to lead the standings. Sri Lanka conceded the second set 25-23 after taking the first 25-16, but won the next two sets 25-21, 25-19 to earn full three points.
Nepal earned two points in the round robin match while Afghanistan collected one point. As per the tournament regulations, the team achieving win in five sets gets two points and the losing team gets one point. But a straight set victory or 3-1 victory fetches three points to the winning team and no point to the loser.
"I am very happy with the result that we achieved under my very first captaincy of the national team and the first encounter against Afghans," Nepal´s skipper Kailash Datta Bhatta said after the match.
Nepali team consisting of three debutants in the national jersey including Kul Bahadur Thapa, Pushpa Jung Malla and Mahendra Shrestha could not make bright start. Nepal gave away nearly half a dozen points in service and as many negative points in the first set and the show also featured poor block and lapses in defense. Afghan skipper S Ahmade Seyerw with his bombastic spikes greatly troubled Nepali defense and blocker in the first set.
Nepal earned the first point but later lagged behind 3-1. Nepal reduced two points gap to one scoring 11-12, and was ahead by three points scoring 18-15 score at the later stage. But then the home team gave three continuous points without scoring a single and it did not take long for the Afghans to make the score 19-19. Nepal came from 20-23 to close the gap to 22-23. But Mahendra Shrestha of Nepal made a couple of wrong spikes handing the first set to the visitors.
"The boys were nervous in the first set as many players were making their debut in the international match against the experienced opponent," said Nepal´s coach Kapil Kishor Shrestha. "We gradually improved in other sets and achieved victory. Had the boys played as per their capability we should have achieved victory in straight sets."
The instrumental smashes from skipper Bhatta, man-of-the-match Sanjay Aryal and sound defense were the features of Nepali team in the second and the third sets. Home team earned first two points in the second set but the score got tied at 7-7. However Nepal later achieved five points lead making the score 17-12. But Afghanistan did not give up and closed the gap within 18-20 but failed to go beyond 21 point as Nepal earned the winning point through Bhatta´s spike.
In the third set, Nepal earned first two points but got tied at 5-5. But the home side extended its lead to eight points from 13-12 to 21-13 and wrapped up the set 25-18. In the fourth set Nepal squandered its five points lead of 10-5 and leveled to 18-18 during the later stage. Nepal was then forced to come from two points deficit and level points at 24-24. However, Afghans earned two successive points to deny Nepal 3-1 victory.
In the match decider set, Nepal earned five continuous points taking the score to 9-4 from 4-5. In its attempt to bounce back, Afghanistan closed the gap within two points making the score 7-9. But to the delight of jam-packed home spectators Nepal finally wrapped up 15-8 for its first international win in the full court after 2010 Dhaka South Asian Games.
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