KMCC Indian Team, a combination of three international players flown from India and local talents from VoliQ, clinched the QVA Inter-Community Volleyball Challenge Cup with an exciting 3-1 win over Sri Lanka in the final on Friday.
At the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena, which also hosted the final of the prestigious Emir’s Cup between champions, Al Arabi Club and El Jaish, KMCC Indian Team pulled off a 25-19 20-25 25-15 25-21 triumph.
Apart from these two communities, the Philippines and Nepal also contested in the three-day competition and the former finished third, with a straight victory.
The event was revived after two years by the QVA and it was witnessed by a massive crowd of expats, which stayed at the venue till midnight to savour the thrills of the final day.
Prabhagaran, Jerome Vineeth and Ranjit Singh, all members of the current Indian national team, combined their efforts with local talents like Faisal, Sebin Joseph, Fawas and Evin Edward.
Their opponents Sri Lanka also had their national players in their squad – wing spikers Manikkavalage Gayan Madusanka Premaratna (192 cms) and Subasingha Arachchilage Janitha Surath (189 cms) along with setter Pandige Kasun Chathuranga Fernando (173 cms).
The Indian Team earned points regularly from service aces by Prabhagaran and they maintained a gap of six points almost throughout the opening set. The Sri Lanka Team launched counter-attack but that did not help much and the Indian Team bagged the set at 25-19.
In the second set, the Sri Lankans staged a spirited reistance and their rally was marked by superb smashes from both Premaratna and Surath. As a result, they won 25-20 to tie the scores 1-1.
But in the third set, the Indian Team regrouped and amended their mistakes to improve their game all-round. Local player Sebin Joseph’s excellent blocking enabled teammates Prabhagaran and Vineeth to launch the attack more vigorously.
Power-packed blows from both sides by the Indian Team flattened the resistance of the Sri Lankan Team players. They forged 2-1 after the third set before sealing the four-set victory and staying unbeaten in the competition.