KATHMANDU, May 6: With two straight wins, the departmental teams Nepal Police Club and Armed Police Force advanced into the semifinals of the ongoing fourth KNP Japan Women’s National Volleyball Tournament on Saturday.
At the National Sports Council (NSC)’s Covered Hall in Tripureshwar, Police defeated Army, while Armed Police beat Western Region Volleyball Association to secure the last four places as group winners.
Police had overcome the last edition’s runner-up Shivam New Diamond Academy 3-1 on the first day, while it beat Army 3-1 on Saturday to become the winner of Group B.
Province 5 and departmental teams to clash in semifinals
Police lost the first set 25-23, but recovered brilliantly in the remaining three sets to win the match. It won the second 20-25, the third 16-25 and the last 19-25 to secure the last four places.
Police head coach Rupesh Bista said that his team that had lacked good combination in the first set secured the semifinal place as it made impressive comeback in the remaining sets. “We managed to play an improved game in the second match in comparison to the first,” Bista said.
“We were successful in rectifying the problems which was seen in block and receive.’’
Police captain Kopila Uprety said that a good combination between the players helped in beating a strong opponent like Army. “We have entered the semifinals with brilliant performances from spikers Kamana Bista and Kamal Pun despite losing the first set,’’ Uprety said. “The strategy to block a good competitor like Army was successful today.’’
Meanwhile, Army head coach Kapil Shrestha said that the weakness of his own team was the main reason of the loss. “This is a recently formed team and we fielded the players changing their position.
That was the reason behind poor combination,’’ Shrestha added. “The new players lack experience and they could not perform according to the tactics.’’
Likewise, in the other match played on the same day, the defending champion Armed Police saw off Western Region in a straight set of 25-16, 25-8, 25-12 to secure a place in the last four.
Earlier, on Friday, it beat Jawalakhel Volleyball Training Center 3-0.
The other two teams for the semifinals will be finalized on Sunday. New Diamond will take on Army, while Jawalakhel will face Western Region in the last league game of the tournament which is organized by Sher Bahadur Memorial Foundation with KNP Japan as the main sponsor.
