The Hindu : Chandigarh, Karnataka triumph

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 29, 2004

Sport

Sport - Volleyball

Chandigarh, Karnataka triumph

By Our Sports Reporter

BAIDYBATI (WEST BENGAL), JAN. 28. Chandigarh boys won the maiden National junior volleyball title in a remarkable manner. Chandigarh assumed the feat first erasing a two-set deficit and then won the decider to beat a fancied Karnataka in the final.

The Karnataka girls made up for the disappointment in the boys' section beating host Bengal 3-1 to lift the title.

The Karnataka boys, making a bid for the fourth title, proved a bundle of nerves as they forced themselves into a crisis making numerous errors to let go the advantage when leading 2-0.

The first two games hardly gave any scope to Chandigarh which trailed all along as Karnataka played a fine game smashing and blocking with perfection to win 25-21 and 25-19.

Almost faced with a hopeless situation, Chandigarh made the turnaround in the crucial third set as it rode the great smashing abilities of Gurvinder Singh and Lalit Kumar to usurp the dominance from Karnataka. Chandigarh won the third set 25-23 to set in motion a brilliant recovery.

Chandigarh utilised this foothold to open the path to glory as it levelled the score winning the fourth set 25-19.

The deciding set had both the teams marching almost parallel but the first opportunity came to Karnataka which had a clear match-point leading 14-13 but a moment of premature celebration ruined its prospects as one of the reserve players — S. Rajiv — invaded the playing arena trying to congratulate his team-mates before the ball had gone out of action.

Chandigarh earned the point on default to level the score and never looked back thereafter. Karnataka saved four match-points before Chandigarh won 21-19.

In the girls final, Karnataka, despite losing the first set 18-25, showed great character in winning the second, third and fourth games successively to triumph in style.

This was their second ever crown in the long history of the tournament.

Lanky Hani Kumari's great presence at the net and Shwetha's intelligent placings greatly aided Karnataka which rode the stellar performance of the two girls to put it across the hotly favourite host.

Though Karnataka generally dominated the match after the conceding first game, the host had an opportunity to go up leading the third game 13-8 at one stage.

But the visitor, which had won the second game easily 25-15, showed great determination neutralising the lead and then took over the reins of the action winning the third game 25-21.

The fourth game was a bit protracted as Bengal tried desperately to claw back into the contest. Karnataka squandered four match-points before finally winning the game 29-27 to ensure the title.

Andhra Pradesh boys won the bronze position beating Tamil Nadu 3-0 in the third-place play-off in the morning.

The results:

Boys: Final: Chandigarh bt Karnataka 3-2 (21-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-19, 21-19). Third place play-off: Andhra Pradesh bt Tamil Nadu 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-18).

Girls: Final: Karnataka bt Bengal 3-1 (18-25, 25-15, 25-21, 29-27) Third place play-off: Tamil Nadu bt Maharashtra 3-0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-17).

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