The Hindu : Sport / Volleyball : Haryana, Kerala take titles

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 24, 2005

Sport

Sport - Volleyball

Haryana, Kerala take titles

By M.C. Raman

CHENNAI, JAN. 23. Haryana men and Kerala women emerged winners in the 53rd Senior National volleyball championship at the Velammal Engineering College campus here on Sunday to bag the M.M. Joseph and Sivasubramaniam trophies respectively.

Haryana men beat Railways 21-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-18. Kerala women got the better of Railways 26-24, 11-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-8.

Qualifying from the preliminary round Haryana lost only one match to the Services on its way to the men's final. In the final, it did make a shaky start without strong block. But in the second set it turned the match around with superb net defence.

"It was an excellent match and Haryana played a superb game. It won because of the block and Sanjay's brilliant spiking. Sanjay played like the way he played in the World Youth championship in 2003. As the match progressed Haryana's block improved tremendously," said coach G.E. Sridharan.

When the net defence clicked as Dinesh Kumar, Amir Singh, Sube Singh and Jitender Singh shut out the rival without giving any gap in the block. It was Haryana all the way.

Srikanth hit some winners, but the others found the going tough for Railways. As Railways played with two setters, Ravikanth Reddy and Kapil Dev its attack lost venom and only in the

fourth set Ravikanth was removed and Suraj Singh was sent in. But by that time Haryana was moving like a well-oiled machine. Another man who made it possible for the National league champion was the short libero Anil Kumar, who did an excellent job in the backcourt right through the championship.

Haryana conceded a four-point advantage in the first set and could not regain it. In the second it led by three points, but was tied at 20. Still Sanjay and Jitender gave it a big boost. In the third the northern team was ahead 17-10, making it a no constest for Railways. And in the fourth Srikanth spiked well for Railways, but Haryana wrapped up the set and match.

Kerala takes third place

Earlier, Kerala defeated Services 25-19, 18-25, 25-11, 31-29 for the third place in the men's category.

In the women's section, Kerala's defence clicked and Aswini's steady spiking propped up its game. Despite being down by one set to two, Kerala staged a strong comeback as Ashwini Kumar, Betsy, and substitute Preethi Kartha found their touch at the right time.

Kerala suffered a jolt when its blocker and attacker Salitha Prasad fell down and suffered a sprain midway through the match. But Kerala rallied strongly. Aswini led from the front.

Railways' main spiker Geetha Raju did attack, but the team's shaky defence, particularly in the later part of the match, led to its downfall, despite the presence of Shiji Kurian and Priyanka Bora. It was 20-21 in the fourth set, but still Kerala fought hard to capture the set and outplayed the rival in the fifth set.

Andhra finished third in the women's section, beating Tamil Nadu 25-22, 25-10, 25-20.

Mr. B. Sivanthi Adityan, President, Volleyball Federation of India, gave away the trophies.

On Saturday, Railways wiped out a two-set deficit and eliminated defending champion Services 18-25, 21-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-9 to enter the final.

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