Nepal suffered another agonising setback at the CAVA Men’s Volleyball Championship on Thursday, falling to Sri Lanka in a gruelling five-set thriller to register their second consecutive defeat of the tournament.

The six-nation championship kicked off on Wednesday at the Liaquat Gymnasium inside the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad. The championship is played in a single round-robin format: The top four teams at the end of the group stage will advance to the semifinals.

Nepal’s campaign opened on a dramatic note against Kazakhstan on Wednesday. The Gorkhalis staged a spirited fightback after dropping the first two sets, forcing a decisive fifth set before eventually bowing out in the thriller.

Nepal lost the first two sets against Kazakhstan 19-25 and 21-25, but won the third and fourth sets 34-32 and 25-19. Kazakhstan dominated the final set and won it 15-9.

Thursday’s encounter against Sri Lanka followed a similarly painful script. After dropping the opening set 18-25, Nepal mounted an impressive turnaround to claim the next two sets 25-21 and 25-19, putting themselves on the brink of their first victory.

However, Sri Lanka subdued Nepal’s momentum in the fourth set to win 25-21 and force a decider. Maintaining their composure in the final set, Sri Lanka closed out the set 15-10, leaving Nepal empty-handed despite two heroic five-set battles.

Nepal will now play the host Pakistan on Friday. It will be followed by fixtures against Bangladesh on Sunday and against Uzbekistan on Monday.