The Hindu : Sport / Volleyball : W. Railway sinks Indian Navy

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Wednesday, Mar 25, 2009
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W. Railway sinks Indian Navy

Avinash Nair

SULLIA (KARNATAKA): Western Railway (Mumbai) defeated Indian Navy (Kochi) 25-18, 25-17, 13-25, 25-16 in the opening group league encounter in the 13th National volleyball league championship (second leg) at the Gandhinagar Stadium here on Tuesday.

A prolonged inaugural ceremony delayed the start of the matches, which eventually commenced two hours behind schedule.

No cohesion

Indian Navy, which finished third in the last edition of the final leg at Bargur, looked toothless in the absence of international Shijas Mohammed, who is apparently nursing an injury. There was little cohesion in its ranks and the first pass was not good enough to set the spike.

Western Railway on the other hand took time to find its bearings but once the trio of Jai Ganesh, Manikandan and Abdul Salam combined with setter Prabhu Reddy, it was smooth sailing for the team.

Kanish, standing tall at 198cm, did an appreciable job at the net not only blunting out the rival attacks but also deceiving the defence with some deft drops. Manikandan and Abdul Salam packed power in their smashes while Jai Ganesh earned a streak of points with his intelligent services.

Bineesh Augustine had a poor first set and was benched for most of the second. But when he returned in the third the Navyman earned four points on the trot with his serve.

Tightening the defence

But all the good work of the Kochi side in the third set, which it won 25-13, came to nought in the next as Western Railway tightened its defence and looked more focused in its attack and won without much fuss.

With KSEB (T’puram) and HSIDC (Haryana) in the same group it looks difficult for Navy to get back into contention.

The result: Men: Western Railway (Mumbai) bt Indian Navy (Kochi) 25-18, 25-17, 13-25, 25-16.

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