Former bronze winners, Alma SC had forfeited the first match of Women's Volleyball Association Cup begun yesterday with the defending championship, WAMCO triumphing the match due to Alma's no score, winning three straight sets.
The first match of the Women's Volleyball Association Cup begun yesterday has been conferred to the defending champions, Club WAMCO who had secured three straight sets of the match after Alma Sports Club forfeited due to a no-show.
While the women's division of the Association Cup was commenced yesterday, the men's division is slated to begin competitions at the end of October.
The top four contenders from both the male and female teams who competed in last year's Association Cup are eligible to partake in the this year's Cup alongside the teams who ranked within the highest four during the preliminaries of the Association Cup held this year. If any of the eligible teams decide to forfeit the tournament, another club determined by the Volleyball Association of Maldives (VAM) will replace them in the Cup.
While the four contending teams are split into two groups, Group A consists of Himmafushi Victorious Sports Club and Association for Dharanboodhoo Development in addition to the the bronze winner of the most recent tournament Alma SC as well as WAMCO.
Meanwhile, Group B consists of last year's runner-up team, Police Club as well as Volleyball Youth New Generation, Goodies Sports Club and Asdhiqa Sports Club.
Volleyball Academy of Maldives, who had secured third place in last year's tournament had abstained from joining the Cup. Dharanboodhoo Development, Goodies SC and Asdhigaa SC had faced off in the preliminary rounds held this year however, Himmafushi Victorious SC and Youth New Generation had not contended in the preliminaries this year.
The second match of the tournament held yesterday had observed Dharanboodhoo Development clinch victory against Himmafushi Victorious SC after claiming three straight sets. The best player of the match, which had concluded with a score of 18-9, 18-6 and 19-14 was conferred to Dharanboodhoo Development's Fazla Mohamed.
Two matches of Group B had also taken place yesterday with Goodies SC triumphing their match against Asdhiqa SC. Goodies SC had secured 3 out of 4 sets with a score of 18-15, 12-18, 18-11 and 18-11 while the title of best player was awarded to Maryam Amir of Goodies SC.
The runner-ups of the most recent tournament, Police had faced off against Youth New Generation and won the match with 3-2 sets. Police had acquired the first two sets with a score of 18-10 and 18-14 however, Youth New Generation had banded together in the following two sets, claiming victory with a score of 18-16 and 18-12. Police however, had made a comeback in the final set, triumphing the match with a score of 15-11. Aminath Shaha Shaamin, a Police player was conferred the title of best player of this match.
Today's matches will observe WAMCO facing off against Himmafushi Victorious and Alma SC competing against Association for Dharanboodhoo Development in Group A while Police and Goodies from Group B are matched together and Asdhiqa SC and Volleyball Youth New Generation are set to compete for the win.