The Hindu : Sport / Volleyball : Kerala men keep winning

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 04, 2007
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Sport - Volleyball

Kerala men keep winning

Principal Correspondent

VATAKARA: Twelve hours after being punished for letting Himachal Pradesh off the hook, Kerala men nearly got into a mess all over again in the ninth National youth volleyball championship at the Narayana Nagar courts here on Thursday.

The host won the energy-sapping encounter in straight sets but midway through the third, Himachal slowly came back into the game, gaining a 17-14 advantage.

The match was a replay of Wednesday night's encounter, stopped by rain a little after midnight after Kerala had won two of the completed three sets in the five-setter. The Group `B' league game started afresh on Thursday.

Lowering the guard

Thanks to a nice combination block put up by T.K. Rakesh and setter Prasinji, Kerala thwarted Himachal's dangerman, captain Vikrant Singh, and Lalit but in the third set, the host appeared to lower its guard a bit.

Vikrant was quick to exploit the situation, winning points by training his guns on the side of the block.

The host, last year's runner-up, did not take long to hear the loud alarm bells and regrouped quickly to level at 18 before winning the set and match. The third straight victory has put the team on course for a quarterfinal berth.

The results (league):

Men: Group A: West Bengal bt Jammu & Kashmir 27-29, 25-16, 25-7, 25-15; Karnataka bt Tamil Nadu 25-15, 25-20, 26-24.

Group B: Kerala bt Himachal Pradesh 25-17, 25-20, 25-21; Chhattisgarh bt Manipur 25-23, 27-25, 25-18.

Group C: Delhi bt Tripura 25-9, 25-11, 25-9; Jharkhand bt Madhya Pradesh 25-17, 25-15, 25-12; Delhi bt Haryana 25-18, 25-16, 21-25, 23-25, 17-15; Haryana bt AP 25-23, 25-20, 22-25, 25-19.

Group D: Uttar Pradesh bt Maharashtra 25-18, 25-23, 25-16; UP bt Orissa 25-13, 25-23, 25-17. (Rajasthan 1, UP 2 qualify for quarterfinals).

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