NEPALGUNJ, Feb 26: Tribhuvan Army Club has advanced to the semifinal of the ongoing Prime Minister Cup Women's Volleyball Tournament defeating Barshat Association in straight sets on Sunday. 

The army's team registered 25-17, 25-19, 25-17 win over Indian opponent at Nepalgunj stadium's covered hall to confirm its place in the last four from Group A. 

After guiding his team to the semifinal in its first participation, Army's head coach Lok Bahadur Budha said that Army is now slowly becoming strong team in women's volleyball at the domestic level. “We faced many problems to build the team two years back and we faced even more problems when many players left the team in the middle,” said head coach Budha, “We started taking part in the tournaments with junior players and now we have become a settled team.”

“Our main rivals are Nepal Police Club and Armed Police Force (APF) which are very strong and our aim is to throw strong challenge to them. Hopefully we can meet our objective in the coming days,” added Budha. The current team of army is full of players aged between 18 to 22 only.  

Similarly, army's skipper Manisha Khand said that her team has made strong preparation in order to deliver good result in the tournament. “Though our team features young players, we are working hard to do well against already established teams and slowly we are gaining recognition as well,” said Khand. 

Meanwhile, after facing second straight defeat, Barshat Association has crashed out from the tournament. The Indian team had lost its first match against APF on Saturday.

Barshat's head coach Ashish Shah said that early exit from this tournament will be a lesson for his team. “These defeats are lesson for us. From next time, we will come up with better preparation if we receive invitation,” said head coach Shah, adding, “We hadn't expected this tournament to feature such strong teams and players. We are running academy for young players who have travelled with us to take part in this tournament. Due to young age and lack of experience they were nervous during the matches and couldn't play up to their mark.” 

He also said such tournament bringing Nepali and Indian teams together will play a role to make the relation between the two countries better.

On the same day, another Indian side Railway Team India overcame the host Mid-Western Region in straight sets of 25-8, 25-3, 25-7. 

The defending champion had defeated Police in its first match on Saturday and now its second straight win in the competition has sent it to the last four as Group B winner. 

The tournament organized by Mid-Western Region from Saturday features six teams including two from India. 

 
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