ISLAMABAD: Pakistan WAPDA successfully defended their title beating Pakistan Navy in a hotly contested final of the 50th National Men’s Volleyball Championship that concluded at the POF Sports Complex on Sunday. WAPDA tamed Navy 3-1 with the score-line 25-22, 26-28, 25-17, 25-18. Earlier, Pakistan Army downed Pakistan Air Force (PAF) 3-1 (26-24, 21-25, 25-18, 25-20) to get the third position in the championship. The sailors entered the court amid thunderous support from the crowd and started the first game in highly aggressive style. Mohammad Wasit and Mohammad Abuzar exerted pressure on WAPDA and made them to work extra hard to earn points. They smashed forcefully and also blocked WAPDA’s attacks effectively. In the last minutes of the game Naseer Ahmad and Muneer Khan rescued their team with three straight points to end the game at 25-22. In the second game Navy’s Mubashir Ahmed, Wasit and Abuzar again guided their team to get some valuable points earning precious points and a decent lead for their team which they maintained till 23-21. Murad Jehan of WAPDA evened the points with his brilliant display of smashes. But the highly charged sailors won the game. WAPDA bounced back forcefully in the third game amid excellent demonstration of smashes and blocking Navy’s attacks. The sailors also made wrong serves to award points to their opponents as WAPDA were enjoying a comfortable lead of six points. The sailors showed more aggression and toiled hard to reduce the margin but Naseer and Muneer kept them busy making mistakes through their effective blocking and forceful serves. Wasit and Mohammad Asif earned four points in a row within minutes the fourth game started. They maintained their lead till 10-8 but from that stage WAPDA took control of the game through intelligent demonstration of resilience, skill and experience of their players. At close, chief guest Muhammad Afzal, Member Production Coordination of the POF Board, gave away the trophy to WAPDA’s captain Naseer. Murad Jehan of WAPDA was declared man of the tournament. As many as 17 teams participated in the seven-day championship: WAPDA, Navy, Army, PAF, POF, Police, Railways, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, Islamabad, AJ&K, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Pakistan Board, Pakistan Junior and Youth. It is pertinent to mention that WAPDA has been patronizing sports in Pakistan for more than five decades. WAPDA is the biggest employer of sportspersons in Pakistan, as more than 2200 players and sport officials are associated with various units of WAPDA Sports Board across the country. WAPDA players have not only been showing their class at the national level but also bringing laurels to Pakistan in international competitions. WAPDA has 65 teams – 37 men and 28 women – of different games. At present, WAPDA is national champion in 33 sports and runners-up in 17 disciplines. It has also introduced four initiatives in sports for improvement in standard of sports and betterment of players. These initiatives include ‘WAPDA Endowment Fund for Sports’to elevate the standard of sports in Pakistan; ‘WAPDA Athletics Colts’ to promote athletics in the country; ‘Focus on Fitness and Fielding’ and ‘T-12 Cricket’ to improve fielding in Pakistan’s cricket. Published in Daily Times, December 25th 2017.