Two int'l volleyball tournaments begin

Bangabandhu Asian Central Zone Men’s Volleyball Challenge Cup and Bangamata Asian Central Zone Women’s Volleyball Challenge Cup began at the Shaheed Suhrawardy National Indoor Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka on Thursday.

The Commerce Minister of Bangladesh, Tipu Munshi, inaugurated the event as chief guest on Thursday afternoon. State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russel was also present as the special guest.

Mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation, Atiqul Islam, also the president of the Bangladesh Volleyball Federation, was present at the occasion.

In his speech, Tipu Munshi said, “I thank the Bangladesh Volleyball Federation and the sponsors for organising such a nice event. I also thank all the players who came to Bangladesh from far away, only to take part in this tournament.”

DNCC Mayor and BVF President, Atiqul Islam, explained his elaborate plan to make volleyball a more popular game.

“Our objective is to win a medal in the upcoming South Asian Games and we have chalked out a detailed plan to achieve our target. Soon we will launch Volleyball Premier League and school volleyball tournament,” he said on Thursday.

In the Bangamata Women’s Challenge Cup, there were three matches on the starting day.

Bangladesh women’s team suffered a defeat by 3-0 against Kyrgyzstan women’s team. After losing the first two sets by 25-13 and 25-19, the hosts fought back in the decisive third set, but eventually lost by 26-24 points.

Uzbekistan beat the Maldives by 3-0 set (25-11, 25-8,25-11), and Nepal beat Sri Lanka 3-2 (25-13, 25-19, 26-24,25-15, 25-19).

Bangladesh men’s team started with a win against Nepal by 3-0 in the Men’s Challange Cup. They won the sets by 25-17, 25-17, and 25-18 points.

Today, the Bangladesh men’s team will face the Maldives and the women’s team will play against Uzbekistan.