Date:22/11/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/11/22/stories/2004112205771600.htm

Sport - Volleyball

Double for Andhra

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, NOV. 21. It was a grand double for Andhra, which won both the men's and women's titles of the eighth KESPA-FCI National beach volleyball championship at Elliots beach here on Sunday in front of about 4000 spectators.

Andhra's two players who practise on artificial courts managed eliminate players who play regularly on the vast beaches in Chennai and Goa.

First Rama Devi, an experienced player, and Kanakamahalakshmi came back strongly to down the Tamil Nadu pair of Jayashree and Kamakoti 17-21, 21-18, 15-9 in the women's final. In fact, Rama Devi, who was the member of the team that won the title, was handicapped by the absence of Angelina Paul, who has moved out to Central Railway. Still the new pair played steadily to beat the challenge of the local girls, supported by the crowd.

But Kamakoti was shaky right through, putting the ball away. The Tamil Nadu pair was not able to control the ball in the strong wind. Rama Devi was sharp in setting and Kanaka did the spiking well, particularly in the later part of the game.

Ravikanth Reddy and Kirankumar Reddy, the Andhra No. 1 pair, did not give any chance for the State Bank No. 1 team of Pradeep John and P. Mohan to came back and took the men's title with a 21-15, 25-23 victory.

Ravikanth and Kiran combined well and Kiran did well in block too. They were sharp in the placing the ball in the back court. Without much movement John and Mohan found the going tough. They lost their lead three times in the second set in which they led by three or four points. Still they could not hang on to the lead to win.

Christy Rosaline and S. Devi won the third place in the women's section beating Swetha and Nalini 7-21, 21-14, 15-12. Rajkumar and Ravinder Reddy n(AP 3) clinched the third place in the men's section, beating P. Krishna Reddy and Jameeludin (AP 2) 16-21, 21-19, 15-8.

Other results:

Men's semifinals: AP 1 (Ravikanth-Kiran) beat AP 2 (Krishna-Jamaludeen) 21-14, 21-15; SBI 1 (Pradeep-Mohan) beat AP 3 (Rajkumar-Ravinder) 21-17, 21-19.

Women's semifinals: AP 1 (Rama-Kanaka) beat AP 2 (Swetha-Nalini) 21-17, 16-21, 15-12; TN 1 (Jayashree-Kamakoti) beat TN 2 (Christy-Devi) 21-14, 21-18.