Lalitpur, August 23

Nepal defeated Afghanistan for the third time inside 10 days to finish fifth in the AVC Asian Senior Men’s Central Zone Volleyball Championship at the Nepali Army Sports Complex covered hall today.

Nepal and Afghanistan had finished as third-placed teams in their respective groups in the league round and the home side registered a 25-23, 23-25, 25-18, 26-24 victory in the match played for ranking. Nepal had faced identical 3-0 defeats at the hands of Turkmenistan and Maldives in the league round, while Afghanistan finished third with one win.

The two sides played for the third time inside 10 days including the two-match friendly series before the tournament. Nepal won both the matches with the second one coming from two sets behind. Nepal had finished third beating Maldives in Male in the third edition of the tournament to bag their maiden international medal in the third-place playoff match in 2017.

Defending champions Turkmenistan defeated Maldives 25-19, 25-20, 25-19 in the third-place playoff match. Uzbekistan will face Kyrgyzstan in Saturday’s final. A total of seven teams took part in the tournament organised for the first time by Nepal Volleyball Association.

Meanwhile, the congress of Asian Central Zone held here today decided to give the hosting rights of the sixth edition of the AVC Asian Senior Men’s Central Zone Volleyball Championship in Bangladesh next year, while the Maldives was selected as the seventh edition hosts in 2021, informed NVA General Secretary Jitendra Bahadur Chand. The congress also agreed to start the women’s tournament from 2020 tournament in Bangladesh, who have already hosted the men’s tournament three times — first, second and fourth editions. The third edition was held in Maldives, while Nepal won the hosting rights of the fifth edition.

Youth and Sports Minister Jagat Bahadur Sunar inaugurated the congress, while President of Nepal Olympic Committee Jeevan Ram Shrestha and vice-president of National Sports Council Pitamber Timsina also attended the opening session along with Sports Ministers from Maldives and Bangladesh.