France champions; Lankan Ladies’ runners-up
The Lankan women’s duo of Deepika Bandara and Kushani Tharuka sprung a surprise to become runners-up going down to France 21-09 and 21-14 in the women’s finals and Frances’ men emerged as the men’s champ in the fourth CISM World Military Beach Volleyball that concluded on Friday.
In double consolation, Sri Lanka’s Prasadini and Thushari from team 2 won the bronze in the women’s category.
On the other hand, in the men’s finals, Frenchmen claimed gold in the grand finale, defeating the German duo in the Men’s category. Olivier Barthelemy and Samuel Cattet defeated the German duo of Lukas Pfretzschner and Robin Sowa in a thrilling deciding third set. France pair won the first set 19-21, but Germany edged the second 21-17 and won the decider 10-15. Paul and Sven, the pair from German Team 2, secured the Bronze in the Men’s category.
A total of 90 games were played over a span of five days, with a number of fans gathering on the final day to witness the thrilling sporting action. The Grand finale and the Awards Ceremony were graced by the Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Udeni Rajapakse, as the Chief Guest.
Though it was so close; yet so far for the Lankan women, they still found double consolation in getting placed as 1st and 2nd runners-up