Kathmandu, June 30: The girls from Bagmati and boys from Gandaki defeated their opponents from Lumbini Province on Saturday to lift the 1st Sahana Pradhan U-19 Girl’s and Boy’s National 

Volleyball Championship.

Despite reaching the final in both girls’ and boys’ categories, Lumbini failed to win in either one. While Bagmati’s girls defeated Lumbini in three consecutive sets, Lumbini’s boys were able to win one set against Gandaki. 

Lumbini’s girls, who are mostly associated with the famous Everest Volleyball Club, had a great competition with Bagmati, a team with a majority of players from Chandragiri New Diamond Club. Both teams reached the final undefeated. 

Moreover, despite having two players from the national senior training camp in the squad, Lumbini could not win a single set against Bagmati. While Lumbini was able to cross the 20-point mark in the first set, it could not cross the mark in the other two sets. Lumbini won the first three sets consecutively with the score of 25-21, 25-16 and 25-18.

Bagmati’s Anjila Pradhan, Bhawana Tamang, Salina Budha Magar and Jenisha Bishwakarma were adjudged as the best libero, setter, spiker and player of the tournament in the girl’s category respectively. Likewise, Gandaki’s Swain Thapa and Lumbini’s Nisha Chaudhary were the best server and blocker respectively. 

On the other hand, Lumbini was able to clinch only a set from Gandaki’s boys in the final. Lumbini won the second set, but Gandaki emerged victorious in the other three. Winning the first set with a score of 25-15, Gandaki lost the second set by 20-25. Yet, in the third and fourth sets, Gandaki defeated Lumbini by 25-20 each. 

Gandaki’s Bishwash Adhikari was the best player in the tournament from the boy’s category. Gandaki’s Jit Bahadur Sarki and Surya BK, Lumbini’s Dipesh Kunwar and Sagar Rasaili, and Sudurpashchim’s Arjun Nepali were the best libero, server, setter, spiker and blocker respectively.

Meanwhile, Sudurpashchim and Gandaki finished third in the boy’s and girl’s category after defeating Bagmati and Koshi respectively. Sudurpashchim defeated Bagmati’s boys in three consecutive sets (25-19, 25-23, 25-20) while Gandaki had to play four sets before defeating Koshi (25-16, 25-22, 20-25, 25-14).

Continuing the tournament

The Sahana Pradhan Foundation organised the championship in the name of the late Sahana Pradhan, the leader of the United Left Front that was formed to restore democracy by ending the Panchayat regime through the 1990 People’s Movement.

“The final, on Saturday, collided with the 100th birth anniversary of Pushpa Lal Shrestha, the father of Nepali communism and husband of Pradhan. It is an auspicious day to remember the couple alongside celebrating their contributions through the national sport of volleyball,” said Madhav Kumar Nepal, chairman of CPN (Unified Socialist).

Nepal, who was the chief guest, stressed that tournaments like the recent one would provide more platform for the new generation of Nepali athletes.

Informing that the championship concluded on a high note, the Foundation’s President Ram Kumari Jhakri said, “We will organise the next edition of the championship in a better manner. I am amazed to see many girls and boys aiming to represent Nepal on the international stage through volleyball.”