Defending champions Nepali women team overcame the first two sets deficit to edge Sri Lanka and kickoff their Asian Central Zone Volleyball Challenge Cup with a victory while the men's team lost in straight sets to hosts Bangladesh in Dhaka on Thursday.

Despite losing the first two sets 25-19, 25-21, the women's team under captaincy of Aruna Shahi held their nerve to win the third and fourth sets 25-15, 25-19 to go into the decisive fifth set. The defending champions toiled hard to win the third set 15-13 and kick off their title defense on a winning note.

But the men’s team succumbed to a 3-0 defeat against the home team in the late fixture of the day. They lost 25-17, 25-17, 25-18.

Nepal’s women team will vie against Maldives in their second match on Friday while the men's team will take on Uzbekistan on the same day.

The women’s team features six teams including Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Maldives and hosts Bangladesh besides Nepal. The men's competition will have five teams including Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal and hosts Bangladesh.

The participating teams in both categories will compete in single round-robin and the teams securing top two positions will vie for the title while third and fourth placed teams will compete for third place playoffs.