Bangkok, Thailand, August 19, 2021 – The 1st Central Asian Senior Men’s and Women’s Volleyball Challenge Cup, organised by Central Asian Volleyball Association, kicked off at Samo Sports Complex in Fergana, Uzbekistan on Tuesday, with CAVA Secretary General Mr Kylych Sarbaghyshev from Kyrgyzstan presiding over the opening ceremony.
Also in attendance in the ceremony were Deputy Governor of the Region Khurshidjon Ahmedov and officials of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Uzbekistan.
The host nation welcomed all participating teams with impressive performances from young rhythmic gymnasts, judokas and dancers. During the opening ceremony, Mr Kylych, team managers and referees received souvenirs from the organisers.
The tournament is being held from August 15 to 24, with the first two days dealing with team arrivals and meetings. Eight teams in total including 4 apiece in the men’s and women’s events from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan are taking part in the on-going Challenge Cup.
“CAVA is actually divided into Group A and Group B. Stronger teams including Iran, Kazakhstan, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are in Group A, with the remaining (Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Maldives) in Group B. The CAVA Challenge Cup is uniting all teams which need to participate and Kazakhstan from Group A are also here to compete in the tournament, which is being held for the first time,” Mr Kylych indicated.
“Furthermore, there will be the Central Asian Championship, which is supposed to be organised in Iran from September 1-7 and the winning team from CAVA Challenge Cup will stand a chance to prove their worth there in Iran,” he added.
Participating teams in the Challenge Cup will compete in the single round-robin preliminaries, with the top team after the first round taking on the fourth place and the second place playing the third place. The two winning teams will then advance to the final showdown, while the two losers will fight it out in the third-place playoff match.
On August 17, the first day of the competition, Kazakhstan powered past Kyrgyzstan in straight sets 25-17, 25-22, 25-16 in the women’s event, while hosts Uzbekistan pulled off a comfortable straight-set 25-12, 25-13, 25-16 win against Tajikistan.
In the men’s competition, Kazakhstan, silver medallists at the 2017 Asian Senior Men’s Championship in Indonesia, struggled to beat Kyrgyzstan 3-2 and Uzbekistan brushed off Tajikistan 3-0.
The Challenge Cup will be concluded on August 2 at Samo Sports Complex in Fergana, Uzbekistan.
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