LAHORE - Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Army and defending champions Wapda moved into the semifinals of the National Men’s Volleyball Championship at the POF Sports Complex on Friday.

According to information made available here, in the last leg of the quarterfinal league, Pakistan Air Force defeated Army 3-1 with the game score 24- 26, 25-17, 36-34, 26-24 while Wapda beat Navy 3-1 as the score was 25-21, 30-32, 25-19, 25-8).

The match between PAF and Army turned out to be the most thrilling match of the championship to date. It was a test of their temperament, skill and experience, which they demonstrated to their fullest. Particularly, the third game was a real test of their nerves in which they toiled hard to get points which continued to tilt either side at even pace.

Dawood, Fahad and Shiraz of PAF effectively checked the magic of Hadir and Fakhar of Army. Dawood and M Sayyad smashed hard in the gaps created by blunders of their opponents. Trailing at 21-23, Haider and Saleem Iqbal earned two points for the Army making it 23 each. From there the war of nerves started which ended at 36-34 in PAF’s favour, who showed more composure than their opponents.

The last quarterfinal was also full of thrill, where Wapda overpowered Navy easily in the first game but had to fight hard to lose the second game. Murad Jehan and Munir Khan won the third game for Wapda amid their accurate smashes and effective blocking by Naseer and Munir Khan.

The sailors looked exhausted in the fourth game which they lost with a big margin despite some brilliance shown by Mubashir and Khalid.

Today (Saturday), the first semifinal will be contested between Pakistan Army and Wapda while Pakistan Navy will play against Pakistan Air Force in the second semifinal.