Uzbekistan halt Sri Lanka winning spree

 Action from Sri Lanka vs. Uzbekistan match

Central Asian Men’s Volleyball Challenge Cup

• Nepal upset Afghanistan
  
  

By Althaf Nawaz

Uzbekistan halted Sri Lanka’s winning spree with a 3 sets to 2 win in a nail biting finish, while Nepal created an upset 3 sets 2 win over Afghanistan at the third day’s competition of the Central Asian Men’s Volleyball Challenge Cup (CAVA) Tournament at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium yesterday. 

Uzbekistan, third position on the points table, fought hard and bounced back after losing the second and fourth sets. They managed to defeat the hosts 15-11 in the fifth set and secure their second win in three games. The score card read: 25-20, 16-25, 25-23, 17-25 and 15-11.

In the earlier game, Afghanistan, the second undefeated team in the tournament by the end of second day with five points in their two outings, were given a torrid time and went down to fourth placed Nepal who had collected 3 points with one win and one loss. 

The game turned out be a ding-dong battle for supremacy as Nepal had to fight tooth and nail after starting with a bang winning the first set. They lost the second set 19-25. After a close tussle in the third set where they managed to score 25-22 they were outsmarted in the fourth by 21-25 by the losers. However, Nepal pulled up their socks and fired on all cylinders to win the crucial fifth set 15-10, which result has left the competition wide open.  In the 8th game of the tournament, Bangladesh notched up their maiden win against Saudi Arabia after a stunning late rally. They managed to win the first (25-22), third (25-22) and the final set 17-15, while their rivals won two sets 25-22 and 25-19 respectively.