KATHMANDU, Sept 14: New Diamond Sports Club has advanced to the quarterfinals of the 3rd NVA Cup National Women's and Men's Volleyball Tournament beating Pragatishil Youth Club 25-2, 25-11 and 25-15 on Wednesday.
New Diamond's coach Kumar Rai started with five new faces in the match against Pragatishil and all those players were of U-14 age group. Riya Kunwar, 11, was the youngest debutant while Balmika Acharya, 13, Shrina Mali, 12, Anisha Sunuwar, 13 and Pratima Thapa, 14 played for the first time for the senior team. Riya and Shrina played in the defense while Balmika and Pratima were deployed as spikers. Another debutant Anisha was given the role of a setter.
New Diamond had rested its first choices players -- open spiker Panmika Rai, quicker Sabita Lo Tamang and setter Kripa Adhikari. Captain Lalita Nath played as open spiker in absence of Panmika alongside Pratibha Mali.
Coach Kumar Rai expressed satisfaction over the performance of the debutant players. “I gave chance to the young players expecting the match to be easy and I am happy with their performance. They played confidently,” said Rai.
New Diamond finished as Group A winner and will now face Dhorpatan Volleyball Training Center in the next match. Defending champion APF, Nepal Police Club and Western Region also joined New Diamond in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
In Group D match played at the covered hall of National Sports Council in Tripureshwar, Western Region overcame Jawalakhel Youth Club 25-5, 25-13, 25-12. Western Region and Jawalakhel both advanced to the quarterfinals as group winner and runner-up respectively.
Similarly, Kavre District Volleyball Association and Dhorpatan also secured their places in the quarterfinals as Group B and C runner-up. Now, the quarterfinalist from Group A is only left to be decided. The winner of the match between Tribhuvan Army and Pragatishil Youth Club in the group will progress to the quarterfinals.
Similarly, in the men's section of the tournament, three departmental teams APF, Police and Army made winning starts. In Group A match, defending champion Police defeated Kavre 25-10, 25-15, 25-9 while APF overcame Dhorpatan 25-21, 25-22, 25-16 in Group B. Army beat Jawalakhel 25-15, 25-19, 25-12 in a Group C match.
The tournament which is being organized by Nepal Volleyball Association in league-cum-knockout format will run until September 19. A total of 21 teams - 12 in men's and nine in women's sections - are competing in the tournament.
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