Sport - Volleyball

National League at Vatakara, Nellore

KOCHI: The National Volleyball League will begin with the two preliminary legs, at Vatakara in Kerala and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, on February 15.

Eight teams in the men’s section and four in the women’s will figure in each leg which will be a week-long affair. The eight men’s teams have been divided into two groups and the top two from each group will play in a round-robin league. The women’s event will be a league affair. The top three men’s teams from each leg and the first two women’s sides will qualify for the National League’s final phase to be held at Bargur in Tamil Nadu from February 25 to March 2.

The groupings: Preliminary round I (at Nellore, AP): Men: Group A: BPCL Kochi Refinery (Kochi), South Central Railway (Secunderabad), Indian Navy (Kochi) and SAAP (Hyderabad).

Group B: IOB (Chennai), ONGC (Dehradun), V.V.R. Volleyball Club (Hyderabad) and Karnataka Police (Bangalore).

Women: Southern Railway (Chennai), Eastern Railway (Kolkata), Central Railway (Mumbai) and SAI (Thalassery).

Preliminary round II (at Vatakara, Kerala): Men: Group A: HSIDC (Haryana), East Coast Railway, KSEB (Thiruvananthapuram) and SDAT (Chennai).

Group B: Southern Railway, Punjab Police, Cochin Port Trust (Kochi) and Indian Bank (Chennai).

Women: KSEB (Thiruvananthapuram), Western Railway (Mumbai), Dr. Sivanthi VB Club (Chennai) and South Eastern Railway. — Principal Correspondent

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