The Hindu : Sport / Volleyball : Railways reigns

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 04, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Volleyball

Railways reigns

S. Sabanayakan

RAIPUR: Railways continues to rule Indian volleyball. The 55th senior National championship that concluded here was totally dominated by the institutional team. Railways crushed Kerala in both finals on Wednesday to annex the M.M. Joseph Trophy (men) and G.T.K. Sivasubramaniam Trophy (women). It was Railway men's 13th title in 22 final appearances, while the women were taking their 23rd crown in 28 finals.

Kerala men, who have won the National title only twice, failed to live up to the team's build-up earlier in the tournament and simply choked in the summit-clash. Railway won 31-29, 25-19, 25-13 in just 66 minutes.

Railway women's superiority was never in doubt against Kerala even though the latter had enough talent to upset a team that had a number of internationals. Railways triumphed 25-12, 25-21, 25-18 in exactly 60 minutes.

Rousing first set

The first set of the men's final was a rousing affair as both the combatants put in their best efforts with some fantastic rallies and counters marking the set. The Railwaymen's all-round showing gave the team the edge and it always stayed ahead by a point or two.

Though Kerala universal Tom Joseph was bottled up, unheralded Vibin George rose to the occasion and kept up the attack. Both in service and spiking this youngster, who failed to make it to the junior India side owing to a passport problem, proved equally effective with his play.

If George was the toast of the Kerala side, Railways found junior India star Sudarshan Verma, the universal of the team, and S.S. Ashok Kumar in terrific form. The two turned the tide for Railways in the closely fought first set, which it won 31-29. The extended set seemed to have taken the fight out of Kerala players. They caved in in the next two. In fact, Railways earned seven points in one service of Verma in the third set (9-6 to 16-6)!

In the third place matches, Haryana men and Tamil Nadu women triumphed. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Dr. Raman Singh, gave away the prizes.

The results:

Men: Final: Railways bt Kerala 31-29, 25-19, 25-13. Third place: Haryana bt Uttaranchal 25-18, 25-16, 25-21.

Women: Final: Railways bt Kerala 25-12, 25-21, 25-18. Third place: Tamil Nadu bt West Bengal 25-19, 22-25, 25-20, 25-7.