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Kathmandu, July 23 – Nepal lost to India 2-3 in the final of the 2024 Kawa Women’s National League.
With that, the dream of shocking India at home to win the championship also became incomplete. In the final on Wednesday, Nepal lost to India 25-23, 14-25, 25-22, 21-25 and 5-15. The failure to win the fourth set became the main reason for Nepal’s defeat.
Earlier, Nepal lost to India 3-2 in the final of the 13th South Asian Games held in Nepal in 2019. Even so, the Nepalese team lost 6-15 in the decisive fifth set and missed the gold medal.
Nepal defeated all participating teams including India, Iran, Sri Lanka, Maldives, etc., but ultimately failed to win the championship.
Just last Saturday, Nepal beat India 3-2 for the first time in the World Cup league stage. Nepal took to the field with this thought in mind 41 minutes before the start of the game.
The Dashrat Stadium, which seats only 1,000, was packed with people an hour before the start of the Nepal match, which was highly regarded across the country.
The main attacker Niruta Taguna, who performed well in this competition, scored three points in the first set, making a good start for the Nepalese team. Nepal said it will continue its performance against Iran in the league stage and semi-finals.
After that, Niruta’s performance was not good. Less than 24 hours after the semi-final against Iran, Nepal returned to the field for the final. India scored a point due to a mistake by captain Aruna Shahi, and Nepal was eliminated for the first time after scoring four points.
After that, the game continued. Both teams were ahead and behind in points. From the score of 10-10, India was ahead by two points. India took the lead after Niruta’s spike was blocked by Suriya. With the performance of Suriya and Anushree, India led by 4 points and the status reached 18-14.
In the long rally, Usha scored the 15th point for Nepal. Due to three Indian errors and Usha’s powerful spikes, Nepal caught up to 17-18. After that, India added more points and India led 21-17. Usha, Poonam Chand, Niruta and Saraswati Chaudhary tied Nepal at 23-23.
Nepal won the first set by scoring the 24th point thanks to Saraswati’s spike and the 25th point thanks to an error by the Indian player.
But in the second set, India pulled off a brilliant comeback. India advanced from 4-5 down and won 25-14 thanks to blocks from Anushree and Suriya and a brilliant spike from Salini. Nepal’s performance was far below expectations. Usha and Niruta’s spikes were repeatedly blocked by Indian blockers.
In the third set, Nepal started with a 4-1 lead again. But the Indian team then scored three points to tie the score. The Indian players performed poorly in serving, spiking, and blocking, and the Nepal team started with a strong lead of 13-8.
Nepal did not play well, but kept scoring points due to the mistakes of the Indians. After reaching a 19-14 situation, Nepal won easily. Nepal won the third set 25-22. After winning the third set, Nepal led 2-1.
Nepal would win one of the remaining two sets to win the championship. But Nepal lost both sets. In the fourth set, Saraswati’s spike was blocked by Suriya. As Anushree failed to break the serve, the score was tied at 2-2. But Nepal’s main attackers could not break through the blocks of Anushree and Suriya. After Usha and Kavita Bhatt’s spikes were blocked successively, India led 9-5.
With the outstanding performance of Suriya and Anushree, the Indian team took the lead 13-8 and said that the match would continue to the fifth set. The fourth set was a decisive game for Nepal. Usha’s spike ended at 16-18. Nepal lost two points in a row and India led 20-16.
Although Safia Pan broke the Indian score, Nepal scored again due to the super circle. Saraswati’s clever play brought the score to 20-23.
But hopes of victory were almost dashed after the Indian player directly blocked the ball that Salina sent to the setter.
India not only won the fourth set 25-21 but also kept its hopes of winning the title alive.
In the decisive fifth set, Suriya scored a point with a beautiful spike off Salina Shrestha. Nepal could not withstand the pressure after India blocked two spikes from Saraswati. The Indian blocker and main attacker, who dominated the Nepali player, performed well in the fifth set.
After Niruta failed to receive the ball, India rewrote the score to 8-3. Since there were only 15 points in the fifth set, there would not be much time. In order to win from this situation, you have to perform well. But India won the fifth set easily with 15-5, which was much easier than expected.
Nepal’s two main attackers, Niruta and Usha, did not have memorable performances in the final. Saraswati Chaudhary showed some promise.
“We came with morale and ideas. We ultimately failed because of bad reception and service. We should have won the fourth set. The main player of the team could not walk today,” said coach Jagdish Bhatt.
Saraswati scored 26 points, Usha scored 15 points, Niruta scored 11 points, Safiyapan scored 3 points, and Soumitra Regmi, Kavita Bhatt and Aruna Shahi scored 2 points each.
He said Nepal’s failure to win the fourth set was the reason for the defeat.
Coach Bhat said that the Nepalese team went into the match hoping to win the match 3-0. He apologized to the fans for not winning the match. Youth and Sports Minister Tejulal Chaudhry, Kathmandu Mayor Barun Shah, Deputy Mayor Sunita Dhangol, and National Sports Council Member Secretary Tanklal Ghising also came to watch the final.
Nepal lost the match due to overall weakness in the fourth set. Coach Bhatt said the players were also discouraged after losing the fourth set. “I don’t think it’s in our favor now. It seems we can’t come back after losing the fourth set because our players were discouraged,” he said.
Coach Bart said that in the fifth set, the players were in a losing mentality. “Our players were tired, they were discouraged, their mentality was like how to play and the pressure of the trophy, the pressure was too much,” he said.
Captain Aruna Shahi said she did not perform well in the last set. “The first four sets were tough. But in the last set, the whole team was in a slump and the offense was weak, so we lost,” she said.
Photo: Vikas Shrestha/Online News
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