Sport
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Volleyball
Kerala outplays Karnataka
By M. C. Raman
Karnataka's Hemalatha retrieves the ball as her team-mates Mamatha Shetty (6) and Sandhyamani (11) look on in the semifinals of the Federation Cup volleyball championship at Payyanur on Saturday. - Photo: K. Gajendran
PAYYANUR, FEB. 9 The women's semifinal between Kerala and Karnataka in the 24th Federation Cup volleyball tournament was played under sharp drizzle and the home team managed to beat Karnataka at 25-19, 25- 15, 25-22 in about an hour and enter the final at the Govt. Boys School ground here on Saturday.
It was not an ideal condition. In fact, the Federation officials should have stopped the match. After the first set, the rain intensified and the rivals continued to play. Of course, there was no protest by either side. But technically it was not the condition to complete a volleyball tie.
The late start compounded the problems. Karnataka came to the venue rather late, trotting out excuses. There was a conflicting version about the starting time conveyed to the teams. When the Karnataka team arrived at the venue there were dark clouds. Even the commencement of the match itself was doubtful at one stage. But the matches cannot be postponed at this stage as the organisers have to complete the finals tomorrow.
Kerala, which is playing here is stronger than the outfit that was fielded in the National championship final at Raipur a month ago. Sujatha, a tall girl, has added strength in defence and attack. Gisha Thomas, as the home team's main spiker, continued her job as usual. Sheeba, Salitha Prasad and Bindumol Thomas lent good support in attack. While Karnataka's block was patchy, the Kerala defence was steady and strong.
Karnataka, in fact, started well in every set. In the first set it was ahead twice 13-11, 17-15 and then lost the tie. Whenever its defence was good it surged ahead. Mamatha Shetty, Hemalatha, Tejaswani and Ishrath Khanum combined smoothly in double block. But they did not sustain their net defence and paid for it.
The entire second set was played in sharp drizzle. Kerala took a big 10-4 lead and then pressed home the advantage. The Kerala coach changed its setter, taking out Mercy Antony and sent in Minimol. Still Kerala continued its strong onsalught. Sujatha was more successful as a spiker then a blocker. Her height enabled her to angle her shots well from close to the net. Gisha, with excellent jump and clean action, too unleashed her cross court shots.
Having lost the second set rather tamely, Karnataka tried to reorganise its game. Initially, the Kerala spikers' erratic attack helped the visitors to go ahead 10-6. Every time when Kerala reduced to lead or caught it fumbled again because of confusion or erratic spiking. However, it managed to equalise at 18. But Kerala slipped again to trail at 22-18 and it looked as if the home team was losing the set. Luckily for it, the drizzle stopped for a brief period and the home side, cheered by the crowd, came again. Karnataka's performance was patchy. Supriya, a good away ball hitter, was fumbling and that was a bad news for Karnataka. Kerala has moved into the women's final to meet the Railways. It is going to be a second clash for title in a gap of a month. They fought it out in the National championship at Raipur.
In the men's section, Tamil Nadu entered final beating National Champion Railways 25-19, 29-27, 16-25, 15-25, 15-11.
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