KATHMANDU, Sept 19:Help Nepal Sports Club and New Diamond Academy have become the champions of the men’s and women’s sections of the 3rd NVA Cup Volleyball Championship respectively on Monday.
Help Nepal defeated departmental team Tribhuvan Army Club while New Diamond registered overcame another departmental team Nepal Police Club.
In the final match held at National Sports Council (NSC)’s covered hall at Tripureshwar, Help Nepal registered an easy victory over Army in straight sets of 25-21, 27-25, 25-17. Subham Chaudhary contributed highest 27 points for the winning side. Army had defeated
Help Nepal in the group stage but it couldn’t win a single set on Monday.
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Help Nepal was established by volleyball fans two years ago under the leadership of Bashu Shrestha. After winning the game, the players and officials of Help Nepal celebrated their happiness in the court for a long time. Captain Ram Shrestha seemed to be the happiest guy on court as it was his first national title in his 12-year long career.
“This is the most important moment of my volleyball career. I had never won against departmental teams in the past but this time we lifted up the trophy beating all three departmental teams. Now we want to win the league,” said Shrestha.
Help Nepal had hired four Indian players for this tournament. Captain Ram who arrived from the USA to participate in the tournament said that Indian spikers are better than Nepli players. “I can’t play at the level of Indians so my role was to coordinate them with our Nepali players, which I did throughout the tournament,” added Ram.
Army’s Captain Hari Hajur Thapa said that their poor blocking was the main reason behind their defeat. “We worked hard in spike and attack but we couldn’t stop their spikers,” said Thapa.
Nabin Baliyan contributed 15 points from spikes in Help Nepal’s win. For Army, Narendra Giri contributed 16 points while Bhairav Bam and Man Bahadur Shrestha scored 10 points each.
In the women’s final, New Diamond beat another departmental team Nepal Police Club with the scoreline of 25-18, 25-14, 25-18. It is the second trophy of the year for New Diamond as it had won National Volleyball Championship held in Lamachaur, Pokhara last month.
“We were confident about winning the final. Due to weak service we couldn’t control the game in the way we would have loved to, but still I am happy with my players’ performance. This title is the result of the investment in volleyball since ten years,” said New Diamond Coach Kumar Rai.
Pratibha Mali, who was awarded with the best player of the tournament award, contributed highest 35 points to help her side to win the final. Captain Lalita Nath scored five points for the winning side. Kopila Upreti and Manisha Chaudhary contributed nine and five points respectively for the police club.
The winners of both men’s and women’s sections were given Rs 125,000 each while the runners-up bagged Rs 70,000. Third-place finishers were handed Rs 25,000 each. APF claimed third positions in both men’s and women’s sections. Jeevan Ram Shrestha, president of Nepal Olympic Committee, and Nepal Volleyball Association’s President Manoranjan Raman Sharma distributed prizes to the winners.
