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Thursday, May 03, 2007
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Tamil Nadu in men's quarterfinals

Principal Correspondent

VATAKARA: After three close wins, which raised more questions than it offered answers, Tamil Nadu entered the men's quarterfinals of the ninth National youth volleyball championship at the Narayana Nagar courts here on Wednesday.

Just three months ago, Tamil Nadu won the junior National title in Vijayawada, which raised hopes that the under-21 bunch here would be a strong and vibrant one. But the combination here, with a dominating presence from the new Kovai Volleyball Academy, is yet to settle down, yet to find a fluent rhythm.

After struggling against lowly Goa in its five-set opener and against West Bengal on Tuesday night, Tamil Nadu again suffered some mid-match shivers on Wednesday before prevailing over Jammu and Kashmir in four sets.

"The rain here has not allowed us to settle down. Also, the playing conditions differ before and after the rain," said the TN captain George Alphons John, a Salem SAI Centre trainee who hails from Kerala's hilly Idukki. "We are yet to play the biggies, we'll know where we stand once we meet them."

Jammu-Kashmir has been riding on captain Jyoti Sharma and Raman Radha's outstanding performance the last few days.

Bottling up these two attackers held the key. Though Tamil Nadu's block needs a lot of strengthening, it stopped the duo at crucial stages in the fourth set.

Andhra Pradesh, backed by a brilliant backcourt and captain K. Swapna's superb spiking, shocked last year's runner-up Karnataka 3-2 and topped women's Group B.

The results (league): Men: Group A: Tamil Nadu bt Jammu & Kashmir 25-16, 25-27, 25-17, 25-15; West Bengal bt Goa 18-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-16; TN bt WB 25-21, 21-25, 25-22, 25-23.

Group B: Chhattisgarh bt Himachal Pradesh 26-24, 26-24, 25-23; Chhattisgarh bt Bihar 25-15, 21-25, 25-21, 25-16; Manipur bt Himachal Pradesh 19-25, 21-25, 29-27, 25-16, 15-7.

Group C: Jharkhand bt Tripura 25-13, 25-10, 25-11; AP bt MP 31-29, 25-19, 25-16 (AP qualifies for quarterfinal).

Women: Group B: AP bt Karnataka 25-23, 23-25, 21-25, 25-17, 15-10.

Group C: Maharashtra bt MP 25-10, 25-16, 25-13 (WB & Maharashtra qualify for quarterfinal).

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