Railways cruise in National Volleyball Championship

LAHORE: Six matches were decided in the 52nd Engro National Volleyball Championship at the Punjab Gymnasium Hall here on Sunday with Railways winning both of their matches.

In the first match, Railways crushed Pakistan Board in straight ways without conceding any point as the score was 25-0, 25-0, 25-0.

In their second outing, Railways faced little opposition from Azad Jammu Kashmir before winning with the score being 25-21, 22-25, 25-23, 25-11.

Army won their second match of the championship recording an easy 3-0 win over Balochistan. The score was 25-8, 25-5, 25-8.

Pakistan Air Force proved too good against Sindh to complete 3-0 win with the score being 25-13, 25-14, 25-17. The airmen also defeated Azad Jammu Kashmir 25-14, 25-22, 25-22.

Navy drafted a facile 3-0 win against Punjab with the score of 25-16, 25-14, 25-23.

On Saturday night in the last match of the opening day, Pakistan Ordnance Factory remained winners against Sindh winning the match with the scores of 25-14, 25-16,25-13.

Six matches were decided last night. Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary inaugurated the championship amid a colourful ceremony. The Federal Minister said that the volleyball game was more popular in his native city Jhelum rather than cricket. He assured that the government would provide all kinds of assistants to the players of volleyball and advised them to perform at the international level like the Olympics. He said the government would launch another PTV Sports Channel confined to all other sports except for cricket.

Meanwhile, Chairman Pakistan Volleyball Federation Ch. Mohammad Yaqoob said Pakistan had obtained 7th place in Asia and 39th in the World's volleyball rankings.

He thanked the minister for inaugurating the championship and he also thanked sponsors for extending a helping hand.