The Surprising Bogor Lavani, Wins The 2022 Proliga Trophy After Overthrowing The Defending Champion

Bogor Lavani (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Bogor Lavani men's team made a surprise by winning the 2022 PLN Mobile Proliga volleyball competition after in the final match at the General Kunarto Volleyball Padepokan, Sentul, Bogor, Sunday, defeating the defending champion Surabaya Bhayangkara Samator.

The Chinese coach Jeff Jiang's team won 3-2 (25-27, 25-19, 20-25, 25-18, 15-10). Specially, Lavani won the title on his debut. Lavani just appeared for the first time in the championship which began to be held in 2002.

The team established by the President of the Republic of Indonesia for the period 2004-2014 Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) comes with a composition of 18 players and only three volleyball players have ever experienced the atmosphere of Proliga competition.

They are Dony Haryono and Dio Zulfikri who brought Indonesia to win a gold medal at the Philippines SEA Games in 2019. Then Muhammad Malizi who strengthened Indonesia at the 2018 Asian Games and also won an award as the best blocker in the 2018 Proliga season.

The rest, LavAni's players made their first appearance in the 2022 Proliga, including two foreign players namely Leandro Martins da Silva from Brazil and Jorge Gonzales Garcia from Cuba.

Even though as a new team, Bogor Lavani did prepare well. Moreover, what they are facing are teams that already have big names and are supported by players who are full of experience.

It can be said, Lavani is not a star-studded team like the opponent Surabaya Bhayangkara Samator who is also the defending champion team.

With the existing squad, Bogor Lavani was quite strong from the start of the championship. In fact, in the final match, it was clear that the opponent was one of the big teams with a myriad of achievements.

Even the term debutant against the king appeared. However, the conditions on the field were different and Lavani succeeded in becoming the new Proliga champion.