Bangkok, Thailand, December 23, 2022 – Hosts Bangladesh powered past Nepal in hard-fought straight sets and Kyrgyzstan overcame Sri Lanka’s robust challenge for dramatic 3-1 win on the opening day of the 2022 Central Asian Volleyball Association (CAVA) Men’s U23 Volleyball Championship at Shaheed Suhrawardi National Indoor Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka on Thursday.
The championship is being held between December 22 and 26, with Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan and hosts Bangladesh competing in round-robin first round. After that, the best-ranked team will take on the fourth-ranked side in the first semifinal clash and the second and third places fight it out in the second encounter.
On Thursday, Bangladesh pulled off a hard-fought straight-set 26-24, 25-22, 25-21 win against Nepal, while Kyrgyzstan struggled to beat Sri Lanka in four-setter 25-21, 25-22, 22-25, 25-18.
Mr Atiqul Islam, President of Bangladesh Volleyball Federation, presided over the opening ceremony on Thursday, attended by the organisers and the Control Committee Members including Technical Delegate Mr Ahmed Nasheed from Maldives and Referee Delegate Mr Beny Coonghe Santiago from India.
Shortly after the ceremony, the curtain-raiser to the five-day competition was held, with hosts Bangladesh taking on Nepal. It turned a very tough match because the strong visitors were playing really, good volleyball.
Nepal, trailing 2-8 in the first set, managed to equalize 10-10 and surged ahead 12-10. However, they could not maintain their form and went down narrowly to the host side 24-26 in the hard-fought first set.
In the second set, Nepal gained the upper hand 7-2, but Bangladesh gradually regained their momentum and bounced back mightily to win the thrilling second set 25-22. The visitors continued to display a dominant performance in the third set as well, but found the host side too hot to handle to go down in the third set 21-25. Bangladesh eventually beat Nepal in straight sets to bag their first 3 points.
Shafin carried the Bangladesh’s offence with 10 attack points from 24 attempts, while K C led Nepal with 13 points. Bangladesh’s captain and setter Md Al Amin became Man of the Match.
The hosts side will next go up against Kyrgyzstan on Friday, with Nepal playing Sri Lanka to fight for their first win in this championship.
In the second encounter, Kyrgyzstan got their campaign off to a good start following their exceptional 3-1 win against Sri Lanka, which finished 8th at the 2019 Asian Men’s U23 Championship in Myanmar.
With Medetbek Uulu, Ravkhat Uulu and Zheenbek Uulu on fire, Kyrgyzstan quickly took control to clinch the first two sets 25-21, 25-22. Sri Lanka fought back hard and their attempts to comeback were fruitful in the third set when they took the competitive set 25-22.
However, the fourth set saw the Kyrgyzstan play incredibly well in defence to catch up, take control and break away with some crucial points, while the Sri Lankans were errors-strewn and failed to make their mark at home stretch. Kyrgyzstan captured the set 25-18 and match.
Medetbek Uulu was Kyrgyzstan’s leading scorer of the match with a total of 19 points to his name, followed by Zheenbek Uulu and Ravkhat Uulu with 15 and 13 points respectively. Kavishka scored 18 points including 15 attacks on the Sri Lanka’s losing efforts.
Zheenbek Uulu from Kyrgyzstan emerged as Man of the Match, scoring 12 attacks from 33 attempts and 3 blocks.
At the end of Day 1, hosts Bangladesh went atop the four-team standing with 3 points from one win with perfect 3-0 record, followed by Kyrgyzstan with similar 3 points. The two losing teams, Sri Lanka and Nepal, are trailing in respective third and fourth places.
MATCH RESULTS AND STANDING
Related links of AVC
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation
AVC Twitter: click: www.twitter.com/AsianVolleyball
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/avcvolley/?hl=en
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation
AVC WeChat: Asian Volleyball Confederation