Departmental teams Nepal Police Club and APF Club started their Bagmati Province New Diamond Cup Open Volleyball Competition campaigns with wins on Tuesday.

Police defeated hosts New Diamond in straight sets of 25-16, 25-15, 25-15 at the Kirtipur Multipurpose Covered Hall to make a winning start in the four-team round-robin competition that runs until Saturday.

New Diamond, comprising Pratibha Mali, Salina Shrestha and Pragati Nath, tried to fight back after losing the first set but Police were too strong for the hosts.

Open spiker Mali is nursing a knee injury she suffered during the RBB NVA Club Championship final against APF in January 2020. She was sidelined for at least three months after her injury resurfaced during the International Invitational Women’s National Volleyball Tournament in March. Mali, who has been included in the closed camp along with Shrestha and Nath, is expected to be fit for Asian Games.

Kopila Upreti-led Police’s Usha Bhandari, Manisha Chaudhary, Kamana Bista, Punam Chand, Laxmi Chand, Shantikala Tamang are also in the camp, preparing for the Asiad.

APF registered a comfortable 23-11, 25-4, 25-3 win over Paropakar Girls Hostel. APF’s Kabita Bhatta, Aarati Subedi and Puja Chaudhary are also in the national camp.

Police will face Paropakar and New Diamond will take on APF on Tuesday. The top two teams will battle for the title.

Army did not participate in the tournament since seven of their players are training for the upcoming Games.

The winners will bag a purse of Rs500,000 while the runners-up will receive Rs250,000. The third-placed and fourth-placed teams will walk away with Rs125,000 and Rs75,000, respectively. The player-of-the-tournament will get Rs25,000 while the best five players and best coach will be rewarded with Rs10,000 each.

The tournament has been organised with aims to collect funds for building a volleyball court for the New Diamond Club. The teams will need to return 20 percent of their prize money as support, according to the organisers.