LAHORE: National champions Pakistan Wapda won the first inspector general police (IGP) Gold Cup Volleyball Tournament that concluded at the Wada sports complex here on Sunday.
In a hotly-contested final Wapda beat Army 28-26, 25-22 and 25-21. Navy obtained third position in the Event defeating Police 25-13, 25-17 and 25-17.
Final was clash of Titans between the arch rivals in national sports. Both fought hard for every point with full fervor. Army took an immediate lead in the first game through excellent servers by Haider and accurate smashes by their Captain Yaseen. Later Fakhar and Waseem with their calculated and flashing serves and well anticipated smashes also earned valuable points for Army. Particularly, Waseem frustrated their opponents with his effective blocking. However, International Mohib Rasool of Wapda showed his class at the most crucial stage when Wapda was trailing at 9-13 to level the score 13-13. After that points continued to tilt either side. Finally Wapda’s experience overpowered the soldiers.
Army’s Haider and Fakhar also excelled in the second game amid their active blocking and smashes. But Wapda’s Adrees and international Muneer demonstrated their experience and skill with their correct smashes and strong serves and stole the initiative. Army gave stiff resistance in the last game though they had lost much of their appetite to gain points. At a stage soldiers were trailing at 3-11.
However, they composed themselves and reduced the margin 16-19. International Muneer guided Wapda with all his skill and experience in the last game. In the end wrong serves by Army’s players gave Wapda reasons to win a straight final.
At the end IGP Punjab Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhera gave the winning trophy to Wapda captain Murad Jehan. Wapda’s Murad Jejan was declared Player of the Tournament. Wapda also grabbed thr3ee other prizes: Kashif Naveed (Best Setter), Adrees (Best Blocker), Aimal Kan (Best Attacker). Army’s Mohammad Fakhar and Saleem were declared best Scorer and best Lebro respectively. Navy’s Usman was declared as the best Receiver. Abdul Rasheed and Shahbaz were declared best Referee and best Judge of the Tournament.
(The News)
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