The Hindu : Easy for Bengal girls; U.P. boys made to sweat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 26, 2003

Sport

Sport - Volleyball

Easy for Bengal girls; U.P. boys made to sweat

By Our Sports Reporter

HUVINA HADAGALI (Bellary dist.) May 25. Reigning champions West Bengal girls and Uttar Pradesh boys took their appointed places in the final of the 11th mini volleyball championship in contrasting fashion.

While the Bengal girls ended the agonising run of Karnataka with a 25-11, 25-12, 25-10 win in just 50 minutes, Uttar Pradesh huffed and puffed its way past a fighting Madhya Pradesh in a five-set thriller at 25-23, 22-25, 25-8, 21-25, 15-11 with the match witnessed by a packed stadium at the GBR College courts here this evening.

The Karnataka girls' showing had been far from impressive here and it was only Uttar Pradesh's largesse on Sunday that enabled the host team make the last four. Today, all its limitations were exposed as Bengal attacked well and also put up a solid defence from the backcourt.

The three tall players — captain Vandana, Rachana and Ananya Seshadri — looked tense and hardly made extra efforts. Only setter Shamala played a competent role with Spoorthi and Harshitha providing some support. Bengal, on the other hand, had in Minakshi Ghosh and Priyanka Karmarkar who were simply unstoppable. In particular, the roly-poly Minakshi packed enough power in her smashes and often caught the Karnataka defence napping. Sumana Dey and Pushpo Baug lent admirable support both in the forecourt and defence.

The boys' semifinal was a tight affair but unfortunately Madhya Pradesh was not consistent enough to clinch the issue. It was brilliant one minute and mediocre the next to help holder Uttar Pradesh wriggle out of tight situations.

Dhananjai Rai was the backbone of the team once again while Aravind Singh and Deepak Kumar were equally impressive in their finishing today. Having wrapped up the first set at 25-23, there was a complete turnaround as Madhya Pradesh came up with some sizzling smashes through Imran Khan and Vaibhav Tripathi.

At one-set apiece, Uttar Pradesh had a fight on its hands but the way M.P. crumbled in the third, losing 8-25, saw the crowd move over to the adjacent court.

However, a pep talk from coach Alexander seemed to have worked as M.P. came out firing in the fourth. Pankaj Tomar and Kishan Singh helped M.P.'s cause with some good work at the net. With Vaibhav producing superb jump serves, the underdog clinched the fourth set to take the match into the decider.

U.P. steadied its defence and with Dhananjai and Deepak coming good, it changed ends in the fifth at 8-5. Though M.P. bridged the gap, it often smashed into the blockers due to overenthusiasm, and at times wildly, to let the match out of its grasp. A telling smash from Dhananjai deservingly clinched the match for U.P.

Karnataka boys disappoint

Karnataka boys disappointed the large gathering with some insipid showing. In a semifinal that it should have won with ease Karnataka boys squandered after pocketing the first set against an inspired Manipur. Manipur which won 20-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-21 in 71 minutes, was patchy but picked its game miday through the second set when down 14-21 to reel of the next 11 points on a canter.

In the second girls' semifinal, Haryana beat Tami Nadu, the victory coming in just 78 minutes. Haryana won 14-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-16 and will clash with holder West Bengal.

The results (semifinals):

Boys: Uttar Pradesh bt Madhya Pradesh 25-23, 22-25, 25-8, 21-25, 15-11; Manipur bt Karnataka 20-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-21.

Girls: West Bengal bt Karnataka 25-11, 25-12, 25-10; Haryana bt Tamil Nadu 14-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-16.

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