Bangladesh trump Kyrgyzstan to seal final berth

Hosts Bangladesh surmounted an uphill battle against a strong Kyrgyzstan side to seal a place in the final of the Bangabandhu Asian Senior Men's Central Zone Volleyball Championship with a 3-2 sets win at the at the Shaheed Suhrawardi Indoor Stadium in the second semifinal in Mirpur today.

In the day's earlier match, Turkmenistan clinched a place in the final with a straightforward 3-0 sets win against Nepal, who Bangladesh had defeated by 3-1 sets in a group match. The Turkmens breezed past Nepal with scores of 25-14, 25-18, 25-19 in the three sets.

Back to the second semifinal, Bangladesh began the game poorly, losing the first set 15-25. However, the hosts bounced back and took two sets before the Kyrgyz pulled things back with a 13-25 win in the fourth set.

The decider was a nail-biting one, but one that Bangladesh eventually took 15-13 to advance to the final.