APF claim women’s volleyball crown

Kathmandu, February 3

Nepal APF Club won the title of the 13th Red Bull Dhorpatan UM Women’s Double League Volleyball here today.

APF, who needed to win a set to claim the title, thrashed Shivam New Diamond Academy in straight sets in the last match of the second round to win the title of the competition. APF won the match 25-16, 25-17, 25-12.

With the victory, APF accumulated 50 points from 17 matches to finish first, while NDA earned 46 points to finish second. Champions APF became richer by Rs 325,000, while NDA pocketed Rs 170,000.

However, the third and fourth positions were not decided after the match between Nepal Police Club and Tribhuvan Army Club was postponed for Sunday due to bad light. The referees called off the match when NPC were leading the game 2-1 and were 16-6 ahead in the fourth set.

Earlier, Tops HS School defeated NPC 25-21, 25-27, 25-19, 10-25, 17-15 and accumulated 35 points from 17 matches and are tied with NPC. TAC earned 27 points to finish fifth.

Meanwhile, Shree Gaun Sports Development Committee’s Sharmila Nepali was named the rising player, while TAC’s Niruta Thagunna got the player-of-the-series award. APF’s Saraswoti Chaudhary won the player-of-the-year award. NDA’s Pratibha Mali was adjudged the best player of the tournament. The four players received UM Powermax scooter each along with the lucky spectator Raj Kumar Ghatene.

NDA’s Salina Shrestha and her teammate Kripa Adhikari were named the best libero and lifter respectively, while APF’s Reshma Bhandari won the best blocker’s award. NPC’s Kopila Rana was the best quicker and Tops’ Aruna Shahi was named the best server. APF’s Gyanendra Bista got the best coach’s award. The individual award winners received Rs 5,000 each.

A total of 12 teams took part in the tournament organised by Dhorpatan Sports Club under the sponsorship of Gorkha Brewery. After the round-robin league in the first round, top seven teams made it to the second round. Dhorpatan Municipality Mayor Dev Kumar Nepali, Nepal Volleyball Association President Manoranjan Raman Sharma, General Secretary Jitendra Bahadur Chand, Dhorpatan Sports Club President Manbir Chhantyal among others handed over the prizes to the winners.