Embattled Kazakhstan survived a huge scare from Nepal to stun the host side and set up the Sunday’s final showdown with India in the Central Asian Volleyball Association (CAVA) Volleyball Women’s Challenge Cup at NSC Covered Hall in Kathmandu.
Contesting the Friday’s semifinal encounters, unbeaten Kazakhstan struggled hard to beat Nepal in hard-fought five-set thriller 30-28, 16-25, 15-25, 25-18, 15-7, while India, which also have yet lost a match to their respective rivals, powered past Uzbekistan in comfortable straight sets 25-17, 25-20, 25-15
Kazakhstan and India will battle it out for the eventual title on Sunday, the final day of the tournament. Hosts Nepal will challenge Uzbekistan in the third-place playoff clash on the same day to fight for bronze medal.
On Friday, India, which picked up silver medal at the last year’s AVC Women’s Challenger Cup in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, fielded a strong lineup led by Soorya and Anushree in their crucial match against Uzbekistan.
The Indians got off to a strong start to take the comfortable opening set 25-17. However, Uzbekistan intensified their defence in the second set, allowing the Indians scoring difficulties. Fielding more individual talents, India bounced back with powerful attacks from Soorya, Nirmal and Anushree to win the set 25-20 and extend the lead to 2-0.
The third set became one-way traffic, with India attacking effectively at the net to capture the easy set 25-15, match and final berth.
Anushree contributed 15 points for India, while Soorya added 12 points. Aziza led Uzbekistan with 12 points.
In the more thrilling second semifinal clash, Kazakhstan overcame strong challenge from Nepal, which captured the AVC Central Zone Championship twice in 2019 and 2021, to win the closely-contested first set 30-28, but comfortably went down in the next two sets 16-25, 15-25 to the host team.
In the fourth set, Kazakhstan played with their backs against the wall. They tightened their defence and attacked devastatingly at the net to win the set 25-18, forcing the tie-breaker. Kazakhstan remained in aggressive form to win the decider 15-7 and match.
Uatayeva scored a game-high 16 points for Kazakhstan, while Sitkazinova and Balagazibova kept good company to add 12 and 11 points respectively. Saraswoti topscored with 17 points on the Nepal’s losing effort.
The final showdown and the third-place playoff match will be held on Sunday, the final day of the tournament.
On Saturday, Maldives and Bangladesh will contest the 7th-8th place playoff, with Kyrgyzstan challenging Sri Lanka for the 5th position.
Meanwhile, Mr Hitesh Malhothra from the FIVB Technical and Development Department arrived in Katmandu to witness the final match on May 28. Key persons including Nepal Volleyball Association President Mr Jitendra Bahadur Chand gave him a warm welcome.
Mr Hitesh will be representing FIVB and this is the first time that FIVB has sent a representative to witness the CAVA volleyball event.
“We are honored to have Mr Hitesh Malhotra during the CAVA Women’s Challenge Cup, and his presence shows the importance given by FIVB to promote volleyball activities in the world”, said Mr Jitendra at the airport.
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