The Hindu : Smooth sailing for Cochin Port Trust

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 06, 2003

Sport

Sport - Volleyball

Smooth sailing for Cochin Port Trust

By H.S. Manjunath

BANGALORE March 5. The coast seemed clear for Cochin Port Trust the moment the side set sail in the National League Volleyball Club championship at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium this evening.

Up against local big cheese, AGORC, Port Trust grated the grooves to a nicety and got down to demonstrate what a well proportioned team can do to one full of good players who often could not forge good partnerships. In less than an hour, Port Trust had emerged with a 25-21, 27-25, 25-17 victory in the comforting thought that Vinod had single-handedly put up the toughest of blocks and Paul Joseph as a setter had chipped in with a spirited performance.

A solid blocker was what AGORC wanted desperately and all they ended up with were makeshifts who could hardly do justice. If you consider the fact that across the net were two over six footers, Shijo and Ansar, waiting to pounce on a high ball, this was clearly inviting trouble. Whatever else the AGORC defence did ultimately it boiled down to the fact that the side just could not cope with Port Trust's aggression at the net.

The AGORC destruction thus looked imminent from the first touch. Yet, the local side battled gamely to stay as close as it could in the third and the fourth games.

Port Trust is a side which has set out to rediscover itself after its somewhat modest showing in the local league circuit. Once a much talked about team, it is now trying its might to get back into the top rung. The side could not have bargained for a better launch than this. Playing its first match in the league, Port Trust had packed enough scare for others in today's victory.

By the time, AGORC sorted out the areas of Port Trust strength, the first game had already slipped out of its grasp. At least three of the Port Trust players had this jump serves which generally worked well and Shijo landed a few thuds to scare the AGORC defence to some early mistakes. In response, AGORC could hardly find the required fire power at the net. Vinod and Ansar had not only long hands but they were supple enough to block a number of AGORC spikes.

While Paul Joseph in the role of a setter created quite a number of creative openings for Port Trust, Baliga in the same robes for AGORC was not so effective. Besides, Damodar was too withdrawn as an attacker today. Prakash Rao and Arun Kumar also found the going tough.

Yet the Local side injected a lot more theatre into the finish of both the second and the third games. At 24-23 in the second game, AGORC had the evening's most cherished moment but Shankar sent his serve far and wide. A chance as good as that would never ever come AGORC way again. For a brief while AGORC led in the third game. But it was always on sufferance as Port Trust came tellingly back each time the side found itself in arrears.

KSEB has it easy

Kerala State Electricity Board turned in another pleasing show in the women's section, this time Eastern Railway, Kolkata falling prey to the Kerala side. Gisha Thomas was unstoppable yet again. Sheeba Thomas made her presence felt. Eastern Railway did well enough to garner a couple of crucial points in the first game when it was delicately balanced. But the side was nowhere near that level of efficiency in the next two. Points for KSEB came in torrents. Sreeja reeled off seven points on a trot in the second game on her serve and nine in a row in the third. So that was that. One marked difference between the two sides was in the fact that while the Kerala side had enough athleticism to show on court, the Kolkata side apparently had not even half of that. KSEB won 25-27, 25-19, 25-17, 25-14.

Earlier in the day, Karnataka Club had an easy picking when it met Haryana Agricultural Univeristy. The Bangalore side won 25-12, 25-18, 25-22.

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