Date:13/08/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/08/13/stories/2005081309982000.htm

Sport - Volleyball

Forgettable time for India

M.C. Raman

In terms of points and sets ratio Russia stands tall among the semifinalists, but with Brazil around one can't be sure

Visakhapatnam: India's campaign in the World junior men's (under-21) championship ended without yielding favourable results. India's pre-tournament plans did not come off well.

Take the case of Serbia & Montenegro, Europe's No. 4 team which played a five-setter against Russia in the European qualifier a year ago and is considered a strong outfit, suffered a big jolt here and finished fourth in its pool. It just about managed to figure in the top eight and in the play-off matches.

It was also a miserable campaign for two teams from the African continent — Morocco and Tunisia. Both finished at the bottom of their respective groups. At least Morocco improved its performance to shock Serbia.

Domination

The domination of Russia and Brazil was expected. But there is no guarantee that they can figure in the final because the competition is pretty fierce. And Russia put up a similar show in the group in 2003 at Teheran, but was defeated in the semifinals. Brazil won every major World title, barring this one at that time.

There are various ingredients that are needed for the success of a team here. Plenty of pre-tournament practice matches at international level, tough decisions by coaches and the mental make up and the fighting spirit of players.

More than that right combination is needed to win matches. Even better prepared Asian teams such as Iran and Korea, though fought well, could finish only third in their groups.

It was an honour for Asia as Iran played two-five setters against two tough teams — the Netherlands and Brazil. But Korea and India, to some extent, could not raise their level of performance.

Lessons learnt

However, they have learnt a lot from this campaign and once again it is accepted by the coaches that the Indian coaches at the lower level must make the coaching strong in teaching basics like service retrieving, dig and back court defence.

In fact, India's attack and to some extent block were good.

But the home team lost the close sets because of lack of finish. It beat Morocco comfortably, fought well against Serbia and Cuba.

However, that extra bit of effort was found lacking. It can be quite an experience for four Indian junior players who are going to play in the World Youth championship in Algiers in a few days from now.

On Saturday, Russia takes on the Netherlands, a repeat of European championship clash, and Brazil takes on Cuba, making it an all-American continent show.

In terms of points and sets ratio Russia stands tall among this four. But with Brazil you never know. It can raise its level of performance in an amazing way, even conceding over 30 error points.