Bangkok, Thailand, December 25, 2021 – Uzbekistan stole the show to sweep men’s and women’s victories on Day 3 of the AVC Central Asian Senior Men’s and Women’s Challenge Cup 2021, with their men’s team coming from behind to beat Maldives 3-1 at the Shaheed Suhrawardy National Indoor Stadium in Mirpur, Bangladesh on Saturday.
Uzbekistan had suffered two straight losses to Sri Lanka and Nepal on the first two days, but came up with their improved performance on Saturday, recovering from the first-set down 22-25 to Maldives to capture the remaining three-setter 25-23, 25-18, 25-18 for the eventual 3-1 win.
Sri Lanka made it two in a row in the Men’s Challenge Cup after defeating Nepal in dramatic four sets 25-18, 22-25, 25-16, 25-15.
After three days, hosts Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had the similar performance to claim 6 points from two wins, while Nepal and Uzbekistan bagged 3 points apiece from one win against two losses. Winless Maldives are seeking their first victory in the six-day competition.
In the women’s event, unbeaten Uzbekistan continued their winning streak on Saturday after sending Kyrgyzstan packing in straight sets 25-15, 25-6, 25-20.
Nepal also followed suit to stun the host side in comfortable straight sets 25-5, 25-15, 25-17 for three wins in succession.
Sri Lanka, which finished 13th in the 2019 Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship, routed Maldives in straight sets 25-17, 25-12, 25-14.
Uzbekistan remained atop the leaderboard with 9 points from three straight wins, followed by Nepal with 8 points from three wins in a row. Sri Lanka are trailing in close third place with 7 points from two wins against one loss and Kyrgyzstan in fourth position with 3 points from one win against two losses. Maldives and hosts Bangladesh have yet won a single point after losing all three matches.
Participants in both men’s and women’s teams are competing in single round-robin preliminaries, with top two teams setting up a final clash for gold medal. Teams finishing third and fourth places will battle it out in the third-place playoff for bronze medal.
In the women’s Sunday matches, Kyrgyzstan are due to take on Maldives, while Bangladesh take on Sri Lanka and Nepal go up against Uzbekistan. The men’s event sees Maldives challenge Nepal and hosts Bangladesh face Sri Lanka.
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