LAHORE - Defending champions Wapda and Army qualified for the NDURE National Volleyball Championship 2019 after defeating their respective opponents in the semifinals here at Nishtar Park Sports Complex on Sunday.

Wapda defeated PAF 25-20, 25-18, 25-15 and Army humbled Navy 25-22, 25-21, 25-21. The first semifinal was a contest between sheer experience and upcoming youngsters. Wapda dominated the proceedings immediately after the beginning of the first game taking four straight points. Their constant attacks kept PAF trailing and they hardly lost grip on the proceedings of the match. Dawood and Ismail toiled hard to lift PAF but wrong serves, poor boosting and wild smashes spoiled their points.

Poor anticipation, wrong positioning in the court, wild smashes and lack of cohesion were the prime reasons of Navy’s defeat in the second semifinal against Army. Outstanding performance by Haider and Anwar throughout the match earned a well-deserved victory for Army. They effectively intercepted smashes from Mubasher, Navy’s star, who failed to boost many a times during the match. If Haider excelled in his compelling smashes, Anwar smashed intelligently changing angle of his hand at the last moment to deceive anticipation of Navy’s defenders.