The defending volleyball champions both the men and women teams of the Dialog President’s Gold Cup - Siyane Tharu SC and Golden Birds SC - surrendered their titles after defeats at the hands of Siriduwa SC and Wijaya SC Koswadiya in the finals concluded at the National Youth Services Council Indoor Stadium in Maharagama yesterday.

Action from the men’s final Siriduwa SC (red) versus - Siyane Tharu SC at the NYSC in Maharagama. – Pic by Sanka Vidanagama

The women’s final worked off first saw Wijaya SC Koswadiya clinch the title with a thrilling three sets to two victory while the men’s final which followed turned out to be an easy victory by three sets to one for Siriduwa SC.

In the women’s final defending champs Golden Birds started off with a bang and seemed certain to retain the title by securing an easy 25-15.in the first set. But it turned out to be a ding dong battle from there on as Wijaya SC took the second in a close tussle at 25-22 and then conceded the third by the same scoring line.

Wijaya SC bounced back with a narrow 26-24 win in the fourth to make it two each in the five set game. The deciding game saw defending champs Golden Bird being rattled as they succumbed to give their opponents an easy 15-7 victory.

In contrast the men’s final which was a battle between two teams from the Gampaha district saw Wijaya from Seeduwa SC take an early two set lead with scores of 25-23 and 25-19. Defending champs Siyana Tharu from Gampaha, playing under pressure, struck back to take the third at 25-21 but Wijaya SC settled down and got their act together and bounced back to take the fourth set at 25-20 and clinched the title.

The winners of both categories received a trophy and cash awards of Rs. 150,000/- while the Men’s runners up received cash awards of Rs. 100,000/- and the women Rs. 50,000/- respectively. The President’s Gold Cup volleyball tournament sponsored by Dialog Telekom saw the participation of over 700 teams from around the island and was conducted in three segments.