The Hindu : Sport / Volleyball : Kochi Refineries books Super League berth

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 24, 2004

Sport

Sport - Volleyball

Kochi Refineries books Super League berth

By Avinash Nair

BANGALORE, NOV. 23. Kochi Refineries Limited (KRL), Kochi rallied from a first set deficit to defeat Income Tax (Hyderabad) and booked a Super League berth in the National Volleyball League. The 21-25, 25-15, 25-19, 25-20 margin gave KRL its fourth straight win in preliminary league at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor stadium here on Tuesday evening.

Later Indian Overseas Bank (Chennai) joined KRL with a 25-20, 25-18, 25-15 win over Bangalore City Club. The two qualifiers — KRL (Kochi) and IOB (Chennai) — will join the teams that have made the grade from Rohru (Shimla) — Southern Railway (Chennai) and HSIDC (Haryana) — and Renukoot (UP) — South Central Railway (Secunderabad) and Indian Navy — in the Super League to be held at Hassan from December 21 to 26.

Income Tax (Hyderabad) had to win today. And its 25-21 first set win with solid net blocks and sound backcourt play did give Kochi Refineries the jitters. If Kasi V. Raju was exemplary in his role as a setter, left handed Kiran Kumar Reddy and K. Raja too came up with winners time and again. KRL's Tom Joseph and his attack force of Rajeev and Azeez were hitting the `wall' that Income Tax had put up. The resistance, however, lasted only in the first set.

Inspired show

After coach Chander Singh's pep talk at the change of ends, the Kochi side looked a transformed side and then on the Hyderabad Taxmen were running for cover. Tom unleashed his `booming' smashes while the young T.P. Sayooj came up with an inspired performance. The smashes came in a torrent from all sides and the Income Tax defence was in total disarray and caved in without much of a fight in the next two. Only midway in the fourth set after taking an early 4-0 lead did the Taxmen show some gumption in the match but by then KRL had taken a vice-like grip on the proceedings and a few negatives really did not matter. Dhananjay Rao and S. Pradeep had a forgettable day on the court.

IOB seemed to have reserved its best for the morrow wherein it takes on KRL for the league toppers match and played at easy pace, which still was too good for the Bangalore City Club. While Jinson Verghese was benched for long M.S. Rajesh and Nadarajan were content in slicing their smashes rather than exert too much. Harun Khan and Sivabalan too played well within themselves.

Easy for Kolkata Club

Later in the evening, ITI with a host of guest players scored its second victory demoralising state champion Karnataka State Police (KSP) with a 18-25, 25-18, 25-21, 29-27 win that came in 79 minutes. KSP like Bangalore City Club have lost all its matches thus far.

In the women section Kolkata Club inflicted another crushing defeat on Sports Authority of India (Bangalore) at 25-10, 25-19, 25-18 in an hour. Kolkata Club finished its engagements with two wins and a loss while SAI has lost all its three matches. Tomorrow Southern Railway will lock horns with Mumbai based Western railway for a berth in the Super league.

The results:

Men: IOB (Chennai) bt Bangalore City Club 25-20, 25-18, 25-15; ITI bt Karnataka State Police 18-25, 25-18, 25-21, 29-27; Kochi Refineries Ltd. (Kochi) bt Income Tax (Hyderabad) 21-25, 25-15, 25-19, 25-20.

Women: Kolkata Club bt SAI (Bangalore) 25-10, 25-19, 25-18.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport