The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Railways downs Uttarakhand

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Friday, Dec 28, 2007
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Sport - Hockey

Railways downs Uttarakhand

Kirti Patil

JAIPUR: Railways chugged ahead, unconvincingly though, as the colourful Uttarakhand troubled the defending champion in the Group A league match of the 56th National volleyball championship here.

Uttarakhand unleashed left-handed smasher Mukesh Kumar, who drew as much applause for his spikes as did seasoned campaigner Y. Subba Rao for his blocks. But the Railways had the measure of the match as it rallied to win 21-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-17 in 83 minutes of engrossing contest.

With two wins from as many encounters, Railways is on top of the group, while Uttarakhand is in second position after beating Punjab.

Mukesh at his peak

In the battle for the second position, Uttarakhand overwhelmed a spirited Punjab 3-1 after having lost to Railways earlier. Again Mukesh Kumar was at his peak in scoring winning spikes, while Abhijit Bhattacharya, Avnish Kumar Yadav and Ratish Nair provided ample support to the youngster.

R. Kamaraj, who started as a libero has now taken the task of blocker alongside lanky Subba Rao. The combination jelled nicely as Punjab found it difficult to get past the tall-and-short combination.

In the women’s section, Tamil Nadu survived a scare against Maharashtra on Thursday after having won the first set 25-12.

Maharashtra staged a remarkable rally, basically chancing on the unforced errors and some lucky drops at the net. Maharashtra won the next two sets 25-20, 26-24 to take the fight to Tamil Nadu.

Leading from the front

The southerners responded gamely with captain Manju George leading from the front while P.V. Sree Vidhya and libero E. Jagadeeshwari joined in the rescue act. Tamil Nadu won the fourth set 25-14 before wrapping up the decider 15-7.

Meanwhile, Karnataka and Punjab joined Rajasthan in the pre-quarterfinal qualifying after they topped their respective groups. Karnataka beat Orissa in the three-team pool to emerge on the top in Group C, while Punjab overcame Gujarat in straight sets to top Group E.

Karnataka will take on Rajasthan in the qualifier on Saturday, while Punjab awaits the Group F topper.

The results: Men: Group A: Uttarakhand beat Punjab 25-21, 23-25, 25-11, 26-24; Railways beat Uttarakhand 21-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-17. Group C: Maharashtra beat Madhya Pradesh 19-25, 25-20, 25-7, 23-25, 15-13. Group D: Assam beat Himachal Pradesh 18-25, 25-20, 21-25, 25-22, 15-13; Himachal Pradesh beat Jammu and Kashmir 25-20, 25-18, 19-25, 25-20. Group E: Bengal beat Gujarat 25-15, 25-21, 25-15; Chhattisgarh beat Andaman and Nicobar 25-11, 25-16, 25-15. Group F: Uttar Pradesh beat Puducherry 25-17, 25-18, 25-23; Chandigarh beat Goa 25-22, 23-25, 25-22, 25-19.

Women: Group B: Tamil Nadu beat Maharashtra 25-12, 20-25, 24-26, 25-14, 15-7. Group C: Karnataka beat Orissa 2506, 25-8, 25-9. Group D: Haryana beay Assam 25-5, 25-18, 25-5. Group E: Punjab beat Gujarat 25-13, 25-6, 25-13; Uttar Pradesh beat Mizoram 25-4, 25-13, 25-18. Group F: Bihar beat Uttarakhand 25-9, 25-13, 25-12.