NEPALGUNJ, MARCH 9
Nepal APF Club defeated twotime defending champions Nepal Police Club in straight sets to win the title of the Sagarmatha Cement seventh Prime Minister Cup Women's Volleyball Tournament here at the Nepalgunj Stadium covered hall today.
In the last match of the round robin league, APF registered a 25-22, 25-23, 25-19 victory to claim the title for the third time, while fellow departmental side NPC missed a chance to make it three in a row. APF remained unbeaten and accumulated 12 points from four matches, while NPC finished second with eight.
Along with the trophy, APF received Rs 500,000, while NPC got Rs 200,000.
The two sides were neck-toneck in the first set until APF made it 20-16 by winning four consecutive points before taking a 1-0 lead. In the competitive second set, NPC took a 21- 20 lead by they were unable to preserve that and APF hit back to take the set 25-23. NPC put up a strong show in the third set and took lead a couple of times but APF were too strong for them.
Earlier, Hongwangji New Diamond Sports Club beat Lumbini United 25-16, 25-11, 25-13 to finish third. Tribhuvan Army Club were fourth, while Lumbini lost all four matches and they finished at the bottom of the five-team table.
New Diamond earned Rs 100,000 and TAC got Rs 50,000.
Saraswoti Chuadhary of APF was declared the best player of the tournament and she received Rs 25,000, while her teammate Heera Thapa was named the best blocker and coach Mahesh Chaudhary got best coach's award.
NPC duo Usha Bhandari and Kamala Pun were adjudged the best spiker and setter respectively, whereas New Diamond's Salina Shrestha won best libero award and her teammate Pratibha Mali was named the best server. The six individual award winners received Rs 5,000 each.
A total of five teams took part in the round robin league tournament organised by Banke District Volleyball Association under the sponsorship of Sagarmatha Cement. National Sports Council Member Secretary Ramesh Kumar Silwal, Nepal Municipality Mayor Dhawal Shumsher Rana, Deputy Mayor Uma Thapa, Lumbini Provincial Assembly Member Krishnaa KC, KL Dugar Group Managing Director Pradeep Chhajed and Banke District Volleyball Association President TS Thakuri among others handed over the prizes to the winners.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 10, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
