The Hindu : Karnataka women enter quarterfinal league

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 03, 2003

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Sport - Volleyball

Karnataka women enter quarterfinal league

By Avinash Nair

Karnataka's Supriya smashing one past Andhra Pradesh's Vasumathi in the senior National volleyball championship at Davangere on Tuesday. — Photo: Sampath Kumar

DAVANGERE Dec. 2. Karnataka joined Haryana in the quarterfinal league of the women's section in the 52nd Senior National volleyball championship. At the District stadium courts here this evening, with a boisterous crowd cheering them to the hilt, the Karnataka women snuffed out Andhra Pradesh's challenge in just over an hour with a 25-9, 25-15, 25-17 verdict.

It was a do-or-die situation for both teams. Having lost to Haryana, neither Karnataka nor Andhra Pradesh looked comfortable going into the match. But once the match got underway, the winner was never in doubt.

Nothing went right for the Andhra girls. With captain Kanaka Mahalakshmi in poor form and Vasumathi and Kavitha unable to raise their game, Karnataka brooked no resistance.

Shaila Thomas, the setter, kept her attackers going with her splendid effort while Mamta Shetty and Supriya went about their business with punctuating smashes. But it was Hani K.M., a relative newcomer, who impressed at the net. The lanky girl from Mysore used her reach to good effect and with Supriya content to place her smashes, the AP defence simply caved in.

Karnataka coach Narayan Alva looked mighty pleased with the handy lead the home team got in all the three sets. With AP unable to rectify its faults, the Karnataka women wrapped up the match comfortably.

No stopping Railways

Meanwhile, the Railway teams continued to chug along merrily. While the women needed just 45 minutes to subdue Chandigarh in group E with a 25-9, 25-11, 25-11 victory, the Railway men carried too many punches for Punjab to win in straight sets at 25-22, 25-18, 25-15 and sent last year's third placed team crashing out of the championship.

For Punjab, this was the second defeat and AP, despite its loss to Railways on Monday, made it to the quarterfinal as the second best team in the group.

Late in the evening, Services caused a major upset, pipping Kerala at the post. Kerala, with Tom Joseph leading the way, was too hot in the first two sets and should have wrapped up the match in straight sets itself. Instead, it allowed things to drift in the third and the tried and tested players from Services came back roaring to win the next three. Services triumphed 27-29, 22-25, 25-23, 25-23, 15-11 in exactly 100 minutes.

Having traded two sets apiece, Services did not let off its grip on the match. It kept nosing ahead throughout the final set, thanks to the superb displays by B.P. Aman and Shijas Mohammed. Services got a roaring applause from the goodly crowd for each point.

For Kerala, Jobish and Kishore Kumar, along with T. Azee, did an appreciable job but Services defended strongly. Siju Joseph performed well at the net to turn things around but the Kerala defence looked in total disarray in the fourth and fifth sets.

The results:

Men: Group F: Services bt Kerala 27-29, 22-25, 25-23, 25-23, 15-11;

Group G: Railways bt Punjab 25-22, 25-18, 25-15.

Women: Group E: Railways bt Chandigarh 25-9, 25-11, 25-11; Group G: Karnataka bt Andhra Pradesh 25-9, 15-15, 25-17.

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