Soldiers gun down Port lads 3-1 - National Volleyball Championship

The men’s final in progress. (Pic by Ranjith Perera)

Army emerged the Munchee national volleyball champions overcoming Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) three sets to one in the final played at the National Youth Services Council (NYSC) courts in Maharagama yesterday.

In the women’s category Railway Department retained the national title for another year when they defeated Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) also by the same margin of 3-1.

The two finals were almost a one sided affairs. The men’s final saw the Army side taking an early two set lead in the five set game. The first set saw SLPA making the scoring first but failing to keep up to their early promise.

The champions after taking the lead maintained it and never gave their opponents to settle down. They had the game under full control and their plus mark was the dash which the opponents were unable to defend.

In the end they coasted to an easy 25-21 victory. The second set was a ding dong battle with either of the teams standing a chance to pull off the game. But Army playing with confidence rattled their opponents to win the set with the identical score of 25-21.

SLPA smarting from the two defeats came back and put up a comfortable five points lead which they were able to maintain. But they underwent some anxious moments in the latter stages before taking the game 25-23. Army then struck back with their star players Shantha Ratnayake, Nishantha Ranasinghe and Shantha Kotalawala combining well to guide them to an easy 25-15 victory which sealed the title for Army.

Earlier in the women’s final which preceded saw defending champions Railway coming back with vengeance having concedered the first set 25-18 to pull off a 3-1 victory. The second set was a hard fought contest but then Railway kept their opponents at bay to notch up a close 25-22 victory.
They increased the lead with a comfortable 25-19 win in the third set and then in another close tussle which ended in a 25-23 win for the champions saw them bag the title.

The championship which began with the preliminary round matches in February was conducted by the Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation and sponsored by Ceylon Biscuits Limited for the sixth successive year with the championship attracting a record 4267 teams icluding both the men’s and women’s category. The tournament conducted in three stages began with the divisional secretariat level saw 522 teams qualifying for the provincial level. The winners and runners up of the provincial tournament qualified to participate in the national level which was held from March 21 to 27.