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Bangladesh lost the final of the Bangabandhu Asian Central Zone Men’s Volleyball Challenge Cup 2021 3-0 to Sri Lanka at Shaheed Suhrawady Indoor Stadium at Mirpur on Tuesday.
In the final, Bangladesh fought valiantly, but at the end of the day, Sri Lanka prevailed as the better side as they won the first three sets by 28-26, 25-20, and 25-20 to secure their first title of this tournament.
In the first set, Bangladesh started slowly whilst Sri Lanka were scoring rapidly. The hosts equalized later on as the set went in deuce, but Bangladesh could not advance from that situation.
The hosts lost the first set by 28-26 points, leading to their morale going down, visible in their body language.
Bangladesh volleyball team player, Sayed Al-Zabir, told The Business Post that their side suffered defeat due to inexperience.
“We lost because of our inexperience. We only had one and half months before the tournament, could not play enough international matches at home or could not go out to play. Sri Lanka played in Maldives before coming over here,” said the attacker.
Zabir was benched in the second set of the match, and the coach brought him back in the third set, but that could not change the course of play as Bangladesh lost the last set too.
The Sri Lankan team looked balanced and more agile in the field. They were aggressive in their services, something in which Bangladesh clearly lag. But the key difference was made by the attackers as Sri Lankans were on target with their spikes, whilst those from Bangladesh were blocked or returned.
Sri Lanka took part in this tournament for the first time, and in their first appearance, they struck gold. Sri Lanka are currently ranked 50 in the FIVB ranking, whereas Bangladesh sit on 93.
Still, Zabir believes that with some intense training and added experience, Bangladesh can beat Sri Lanka.
“It’s not like they are way above our standard. We can beat them. Our side is young. Most of them lack match experience of such a tense affair. With some more training and experience, we can beat them,” he told TBP.
Bangladesh team captain Horosit Biswas, who won the player of the tournament award, also told the media that the sabbatical enforced by the pandemic and lack of experience cost them.
“We lost due to our lack of experience. We lost the first set by only two points. Sri Lanka are a far more experienced side. We have nine new players on the side. We have not played since the 2019 South Asian Games,” said Horosit.
He also demanded more international exposure for the volleyball team for better results.
“We did not take any extra pressure. We set our goal to play in the final. And after reaching the final, we thought it was time to do something. But unfortunately, we could not. We want to play as many tournaments as possible. If we can play more, we will not lack experience,” Horosit said on Tuesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, Nepal beat Kyrgyzstan by 3-2 in the final of the Bangamata Asian Central Zone Women’s Volleyball Challenge Cup 2021.
