Sport - Volleyball

Railways survives a scare against Haryana

By Kirti Patil

Kerala's Gisha Thomas in full cry against Maharashtra in the National volleyball championship at Chautala on Wednesday. Keenly watching her captain spike is Preethy U. Kartha. Anjali Dharme is the defender. — Photo: R.V. Moorthy .

CHAUTALA NOV. 27. When a team has the likes of Gisha Thomas, Mercy Anthony and Vincy George, one expected a domineering show at the 51st senior National volleyball championship here on Wednesday. Playing against a modest team such as Maharashtra, Kerala scored a scratchy straight-set win, failing to even enliven its own mood.

For a major part of the match, Kerala women left the back court unattended, allowing Maharashtra to crawl up the ladder and narrow the points gap. Introducing Aswani Kumar and P. V. Sheeba through substitution late in the second set, Kerala recovered some of its touch, and it finally won 25-20, 25-18, 25-14.

Blockers Salitha Prasad and Twinkle Rose were messy at the net as an equally-pedestrian Maharashtra benefited from their lapses. The scores were 15-15 before Mercy Anthony and Gisha Thomas came up with crucial points to win the first set.

The second was a regulation set as Kerala kept at least a three-point distance before Gisha and Vincy sent down some good spikes to further widen the lead. Aswani came up with good blocks in the end to give Kerala a 2-0 lead.

Though there was no reason to believe that Maharashtra could upset the applecart of Kerala, there were a few moments when the latter played a sloppy game giving an impression that something was amiss with them.

P. V. Sheeba took control of the situation and spiked well to earn some quick points. On the match-point, Salitha sent down a good serve down the middle. Maharashtra's Priyanka Khedkar spiked the ball but the wall created by Mercy and Sheeba blocked it nicely to give Kerala the win.

Last year's runner-up Kerala now meets Chandigarh in the final league match on Thursday to decide the Group `B' topper. The other quarterfinalists in the women's section also became clearer after four days of league. From Group `A', defending champion Railways and West Bengal booked their berth, while from Group `C' Tamil Nadu and Punjab made the grade. Karnataka, the semifinalists in the 2001 Raipur Nationals, and Andhra Pradesh were the qualifiers from Group `D'.

Elsewhere, defending champion Railways thrashed Madhya Pradesh 25-6, 25-10, 25-11; Tamil Nadu beat Himachal Pradesh 25-14, 25-17, 26-24; Karnataka defeated Haryana 25-12, 25-21, 25-14 and Punjab swamped Jammu and Kashmir 25-9, 25-9, 25-10.

In the men's section, defending champion Railways survived a scare against Haryana, in a match which witnessed flared tempers and several disputed line calls.

Playing at a nearby Youth Club stadium, filled to capacity, Haryana rode on the popular support and raced to a 2-0 lead. Former India captain Amir Singh was in a splendid form, spiking from the middle of the court to some telling effect.

Turning out to be the chief architect for Haryana, international Amir Singh pumped his fists at the every point won and literally taunted Railways players when he blocked some strong spikes by K. J. Kapil Dev and India captain Ravikanth Reddy.

The Group `A' league match progressed as the capacity crowd wished. Kapil Dev and Railways captain Sunil Kumar were at a loss to face such a strong opposition by Haryana, a side with a mix of young and the experienced.

Both the teams advanced neck-and-neck till 23-23 before Amir earned a set point for Haryana with a stunning spike. Setter Rajesh Tiwari saved one for Railways through a delicate drop, but Amir was unstoppable then. Haryana pocketed the first set 26-24.

The dose of crowd-rooting and crackers-bursting was good enough to give Amir and his men an extra impetus to go for the kill. Add to it, the steady announcements of cash awards by the local landlords for any good spike or a block, and one has a heady scenario to work with all the might.

Haryana had the lanky Amir Singh as the potent weapon and it used it to telling effect. Haryana won the set 25-20.

But, by that time, several doubtful line calls had gone in favour of Haryana. In the third, at 12-12, referee awarded a point to Haryana when the ball very much dropped inside the court. Railways protested and it refused to take to the court.

The Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) officials swung into action and replaced both the line judges. It was a mistake on the part of the VFI to give Haryana men the duty of line-judging in a match involving Haryana.

As Railways returned, fortunes took a different turn. Railways held on to a wafer-thin lead and Kapil gave his team the first set, smashing the ball strongly and cleanly.

Then on, it was a lost battle for Haryana as it seemed to have lost the steam to stay on for five sets. With S. Sivarajan sending strong services and also spiking well, Railways found the right track to zoom ahead. It won the fourth essay 25-18 before Kapil Dev scored the winner to conquer the fifth, 15-10.

Meanwhile, Uttaranchal and Rajasthan earned the right to play a match to make it to the play-off for the pre-quarterfinals. Rajasthan struggled early on against West Bengal before winning its Group `C' encounter 23-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-19, 15-5 in an hour and 35 minutes. Uttaranchal had a easy outing against Maharashtra, winning the Group `D' match 25-18, 25-17, 25-10.

Rajasthan will meet Uttaranchal to decide who will play the fourth-placed team in the pre-quarters.

The results:

Men: Group A: Railways bt Haryana 24-26, 20-25, 26-24, 25-18, 15-10; Kerala bt Madhya Pradesh 25-18, 25-10, 25-22; Karnataka bt Delhi 29-27, 25-23, 25-14.

Group B: Services bt Chhattisgarh 25-20, 25-16, 25-19; Punjab bt Himachal Pradesh 25-17, 25-23, 25-20; Tamil Nadu bt Uttar Pradesh 25-18, 25-11, 25-22.

Group C: Rajasthan bt West Bengal 23-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-19, 15-5.

Group D: Uttaranchal bt Maharashtra 25-18, 25-17, 25-10; Gujarat bt Assam 25-15, 25-20, 26-24.

Group E: Orissa bt Goa 25-18, 25-20, 22-25, 25-23.

Group F: Bihar bt Arunachal Pradesh 25-17, 25-16, 25-12.

Women: Group A: Uttar Pradesh bt Gujarat 25-14, 25-16, 25-14; West Bengal w.o Arunachal Pradesh; Railways bt Madhya Pradesh 25-6, 25-10, 25-11.

Group B: Kerala bt Maharashtra 25-20, 25-18, 25-14; Chandigarh w.o Goa; Delhi bt Bihar 25-19, 25-12, 13-25, 25-15.

Group C: Uttaranchal bt Rajasthan 25-19, 25-13, 25-16; Tamil Nadu bt Himachal Pradesh 25-14, 25-17, 26-24; Punjab bt Jammu and Kashmir 25-9, 25-9, 25-10.

Group D: Karnataka bt Haryana 25-12, 25-21, 25-14; Chhattisgarh bt Orissa 25-23, 25-13, 25-21; Andhra Pradesh bt Jharkhand 25-9, 25-10, 25-8.

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