IOB men enter semifinals

By C. Rajshekhar Rao

RENUKOOT, APRIL 14. Last year's runner-up Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) may not have had the pleasure of topping group `B', but it definitely had no intentions of giving Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) any leeway in the match to decide the second qualifier from the group.

By scoring a straight-set victory over the Thiruvananthapuram outfit, IOB made the semifinals of the men's section in the Federation Cup volleyball tournament at the Hindalco sports complex here on Friday.

The Chennai team packed too much power for the opposition, but at the same time, one felt that it was not stretched and thus did not play its best. For KSEB, it was an off-day, the players just not combining in attack or in defence. The scoreline of 25-15, 25-15, 25-21 gives a fair idea of how things went. The Chennai team was always in control and the interest was mostly restricted to how far the Thiruvananthapuram outfit would go.

Sargadharan Pillai, one of the best setters on view here, did a good job for KSEB, but his team-mates never had an easy time at the net. The only time it looked like taking a game off IOB was in the third set, but some service points were gifted away and the opposition went on to win with ease.

The tall IOB centre-blocker M.S. Rajesh combined with other players to deny the opposition opportunities of `killing' the ball. On the other hand, Harun Khan, Tulsi Reddy and Joby Joseph, all internationals, took turns to smash the ball. Joseph was the pick of the lot, his smooth run-up and graceful jump helping him come up with some fine shots from the defence line itself.

The IOB team seemed to play much better than it did in the match against Punjab Police, which it lost, and seems to be developing into the potential force that it was originally thought to be, in this tournament.

After all, in the more important matches to follow, it is going to be the depth and class of the team that is going to count. The time for the easy shots and lucky escapes is over. The matches ahead are going to take a lot out of the players in a charged atmosphere and a goodly crowd that turns up here.

In an inconsequential group `A' match played earlier on Thursday, Indian Army beat Accountant General's Office Recreation Club (AGORC), Bangalore, 18-25, 25-17, 13-25, 25-15, 27-25. This was a contest that failed to rise to any great heights, but had enough of the competitive elements all the same.

Both teams played an error-prone game in the first four sets, but the decider was a fiercely contested one. Each point was fought for and not an inch was yielded. The fifth set, thus, more than made up for the lack of spark in the preceding sets.This was the first win for the Armymen, while AGORC finished without one in the four-team group.

In the women's section, West Bengal Club scored a fairly easy 25- 23, 25-18, 25-19 win over NSS College, Thiruvananthapuram, keeping itself in with an outside chance of qualifying. But last year's runner-up Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), which has already beaten the Bengal side, should be the likely finalist.

But then again, with Southern Railway scoring a comprehensive win over KSEB earlier in the league, one does not see any team really capable of giving the defending champion a run for its money.

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