Kyrgyzstan defeated Uzbekistan in straight sets to clinch the title of AVC Asian Senior Men’s Central Zone Volleyball Championship on Saturday. 

In the final played at the Army Physical Training and Sports Centre in Lagankhel, Kyrgyzstan won 26-24, 27-25 and 25-19 to seal the title. Uzbekistan put up a valiant display in the first two sets but eventually went down against the champions who claimed the title for the second time. Both the sides were undefeated in the run-up to final. Kyrgyzstan had defeated Turkmenistan while Uzbekistan beat Maldives in semifinals.

Following his side’s run of straight-sets win throughout the tournament, Kyrgyzstan assistant coach Saraghyshev Kylchbek said they had studied the opponent team well and formulated their strategy accordingly. “There was a lot of emotion but winning 3-0 in the final is a good result,” he said. Kylchbek said they had changed the team’s formation in every match and also had plenty of time to prepare for the tournament. “While most of the teams played with the set of six or seven players, we gave chance to all 12 players in the squad.”

Kyrgyzstan 28-year-old captain Kanybek Uulu Onolbek won the most valuable player in the tournament. Assistant coach Kylchbek was full of praise for his captain saying he was the future of Kyrgyzstan volleyball. “He gets the point whenever the team needs the most. He is an integral and influential part of the team,” he said. The best spiker award was won by Sobirov Islomjon from Uzbekistan while Gulyyev Mithun of Turkmenistan won the best blocker award. Similarly, best setter award went to Musaev Zhamalidin of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan’s Sattorov Dilmurod won the best libero award.

Uzbekistan had secured third-place finish defeating Maldives on Friday. Nepal finished fifth with a victory over Afghanistan. They had lost both of their group stage matches in straight sets against the champions Kyrgyzstan and South Asian rivals Maldives. Winless Bangladesh finished seventh. The three South Asian countries — Nepal, Maldives and Bangladesh — failed to impress with their performance.

Nepal Volleyball Association had organised the annual official tournament of Asian Volleyball Confederation for the first time in the country. With the view to strengthen Nepali team, the volleyball association had recruited Dutch coach Han Abbing in mid-June for three-month under the aegis of FIVB, the volleyball governing body of the world. Nepal had set a target of at least making into the semi-final. According to Volleyball Association General Secretary Jeetendra Bahadur Chand, the executive committee meeting of the association would decide if he would be continued as or not.

“We had hired him hoping we would get results. But such things did not happen. The executive committee meeting of the association would review about the cause of Nepal’s defeat and also decide if his contract would be extended or not,” he said about the future of Dutch coach whose three-month contract is set to expire on September 5.