Nepal Volleyball Association (NVA) on Thursday announced a franchise-based volleyball tournament— Aadhi Aabadhi Women’s Volleyball League—offering the highest cash prize in histroy of the volleyball in Nepal.

The event will be jointly organised by NVA and Aadhi Aabadi Foundation, a non-government organisation based in New Delhi. It offers Rs 600,000 to the champions and Rs 300,000 to the runners-up, inforked the NVA general secretary Jeetendra Bahadur Chand on Thursday. The third place finishers will get Rs 150,000. The best player of the tournament will be rewarded with a two-wheeler in addition to Rs 50,000 in cash.

The tournament features six teams and will be played in round robin league format on October 1-6 in Kathmandu. Three departmental teams—Nepal Police Club, Tribhuvan Army Club and Armed Police Force (APF)—along with Kathmandu Queens, Chitwan Tigress and Pokhara Pinkage will form the league. Each team will be eligible to sign four overseas players but can only field three at a time.

NVA president Manoranjan Raman Sharma and the foundation CEO Dinesh Kumar Singh signed the MoU for organising the tournament for 10 years. As per the agreement NVA will also get Rs 1.5 million annually. The Foundation will also make arrangements for budget required to run the tournament through various sponsors besides proving sports kits including referee stand, pole cover and mats.

Foundation CEO Dinesh Kumar Singh said that they decided to organise volleyball in Nepal because the game have huge potential in the country and such tournament will be helpful for the growth of players.