Nepal and India stormed into the semi-final with a match in hand after comfortable wins in their second group games of the CAVA Women’s Volleyball Challenge Cup at the National Sports Council covered hall on Tuesday.

Hosts Nepal trounced Bangladesh in straight sets of 25-10, 25-8, 25-9 to grab their second win in a row in Group ‘A’ following a 25-11, 25-19, 25-11 victory over Kyrgyzstan on the opening day on Monday.

India thumped Kyrgyzstan 25-17, 25-8, 25-8 in the second match of the group. They had defeated Bangladesh 25-3, 25-9, 25-6 in their first game on Monday. Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan, yet to play their third group match, bowed out of the semi-final race.

Both Nepal and India have earned six points each and the final group stage match between the two sides scheduled for Tuesday will determine the group winners.

Nepal, the last two edition champions of the tournament formerly known as AVC Asian Central Zone Championship, dominated from the very first set and put Bangladesh under pressure throughout the game.

Four players marked their debut in national colours, including Kabita Bhatta on the starting list, while Pragati Nath, Puja Tharu, and Santi Kala Tamang made their appearances as substitute players.

Nepal’s Belgian coach Jan De Brandt labelled the victory over Bangladesh as the easiest one in his coaching career. “In the team discussion this morning I said this game was about three ‘Cs’ for me—changes, chances and control,” he said. “I want to make a lot of changes in the game, everybody in the court can take chances to show their best and control the game. The job is done, but the way we played was not great.”

The Belgian coach went on, “After the India-Bangladesh game yesterday, I knew that Bangladesh was going to be an easy game, so we had to win against Kyrgyzstan yesterday and we did that. Now it's a different kind of volleyball against India, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan where we have to perform to our best.”

He added that the result against India would not be important because they were already assured of a semi-final berth. “There is always a chance in the semi-final. The match against India will help us know where we are after two and half months of training when we play against a strong physical team like them. We cannot beat them by playing power game, but smart and tactically good games can help get results in our favour.”

Nepal captain Aruna Shahi said that there were flaws in the organisation part of the team despite the comfortable win. “But we are happy that we were able to enter the semi-final,” she said. “Though tomorrow’s [Wednesday’s] fixture against India won’t matter much, we will try to beat them and enter the semi-final as group winners. We will focus on making our organisation better.”

Bangladesh coach Md Hasudul Haque said that Bangladesh were a new side and arrived in Nepal after short preparation. “Nepal are a strong side and we came here only after a 20-day training,” said Haque, adding that they have played against both Nepal and India, both of which were of similar level. “Whoever plays technically better on the court is likely to win.”

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan also booked semi-final spots from Group ‘B’ with a match in hand following their second victories in a row. The winner between them after Wednesday’s fixture will wrap up the group stage as winners.

Kazakhstan toiled hard to beat Sri Lanka in the fourth set. Kazakhstan registered a 25-16, 28-26 win in the first two sets before going down 18-25 in the third. But they pulled off a 29-27 victory in the fourth set to wrap up the game.

In the late fixture, Uzbekistan saw off Maldives in straight sets of 25-18, 25-14, 25-4.