National Men’s Seniors Volleyball WAPDA to face Navy in final

KARACHI: Defending champions WAPDA and Navy qualified for the final of the 50th National Men’s Seniors Volleyball Championship at the POF Sports Complex Wah Cantt on Saturday.

In the first semi-final, WAPDA defeated Army 3-0 with the set score of 25- 13, 25-18, 25-21. Navy beat Pakistan Air Force (PAF) 3-2 in the other semi-final with the set score of 20-25, 21-25, 25-23, 32-30, 15-9.

The semi-final between the country’s giants WAPDA and Army offered entertainment to a sizeable crowd. And especially in the last two sets, both sides showed their true potential to unsettle each other.

International Muneer Khan provided a breezy start to WAPDA by scoring seven points in a row that put the soldiers under pressure before eventually taking the first set 25-13.

Muneer, Mubarak Jehan and Idrees played a key role in the second set to enable WAPDA to stage a fine comeback from 6-9 down to end with a 25-18 victory.

The libro provided them ample time to smash hard in the gaps. Army’s Haider smashed ferociously to take lead in the third game which they maintained till 16-14. But Mubarak hit intelligently and blocked brilliantly to level the points. Pakistan’s captain Naseer Ahmed and Idrees did the remaining job to finish the set with a 25-21 victory to complete the rout.

Meanwhile the second semi-final between Navy and PAF was also a gripping one. Navy came from 0-2 down to seal a hard-fought narrow 3-2 victory.

Fahad, Mohammad Syed of PAF failed to earn points due to their faulty smashes and serves. They made mistakes in the fifth game, losing points through wrong serves. Dawood and Shiraz tried hard to boost the team’s morale through excellent smashing and effective blocking. But it was Navy who stood like a rock, foiling most of the efforts of their rivals. Wasit of Navy, however, was the only difference between the two teams as he kept rushing to every corner of the court to disturb the opponents till the victory of his side.