The Hindu : Sport : BPCL, KSEB forced to sweat

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Thursday, Mar 08, 2007
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BPCL, KSEB forced to sweat

Principal Correspondent

TEAM EFFORT: IOB's Vikram, Shelton Moses and Thulasi Reddy block BPCL's Vibin M. George in the National volleyball league opener. — Photo: Vipin Chandran

KOCHI: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), host and defending champion, choked quite a few times before edging past Chennai's Indian Overseas Bank 3-2 in the National Volleyball League's final phase opener at Ambalamugal on Wednesday.

"That was close. Openers are always very tight, especially if you're playing at home," K. Sethumadhavan, coach of BPCL, which won the NVL last year under the name of Kochi Refineries Limited, said.

BPCL was hosting its first major sporting event. But IOB appeared to be an inspired side. The team, which is in the process of rebuilding with a few newcomers coming in, played a carefree game.

The pressure came from the IOB captain P. Sivabalan, who came up with a powerful attack, especially from the backcourt. And with J. Nadarajan beating the BPCL block with some hard crosscourt smashes, IOB won the opening set comfortably.

The host regrouped nicely after this. T.P. Sayooj and T. Azeez led the charge using the seasoned Anil's smart lifts and with international Tom Joseph striking form midway through the match, BPCL won the next two sets.

Lethal form

Tom was in lethal form in the third set, landing some powerful smashes from the backcourt and with former Indian captain Rajeev blocking Sivabalan and Karthikeyan, the home side soon raced to a 2-1 lead.

The fourth set was close. There were some long rallies too, but with the host lowering its guard towards the end, the match drifted into the decider. With the scores level at 13 in the final set, home coach replaced setter Anil with Vimal Jacob. The move clicked with Vimal combining with Azeez to stop Nadarajan and with Sayooj smashing the match-winner, the host heaved a huge sigh of relief.

Later, women's defending champion KSEB, Thiruvananthapuram, defeated Eastern Railway 3-1 .

The results: Men: BPCL, Kochi bt IOB, Chennai 17-25, 25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 15-13.

Women: KSEB, Thiruvananthapuram bt E. Railway 23-25, 25-14, 25-23, 25-22.

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