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Making a splash
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BEACH VOLLEYBALL Crowds thronged the Elliot's beach which was the venue of the recent BSNL-FIVB Challenger tournament
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Photo: K. V. Srinivasan
KEEN CONTEST Players from Thailand (right) and India (left) fight for the ball at the BSNL FIVB Chennai Challenger Beach Volleyball Championship
The BSNL-FIVB Chennai Challenger
beach volleyball championships
held at Elliot's beach
from July 17 to 21 provided an
interesting study in contrasts, between
noise levels during the evening
and morning sessions. The
crowds that poured in when the sun
went down and the breeze blew in
stayed away in the morning; the
heat, the humidity and the workplace
conspiring to keep them
away.
On the final morning, thumps of
ball striking forearm could be heard
above the distant roar of the sea, as
ball-boys watched from chairs
lodged in spaces underneath the
makeshift galleries, shaded from
the sun. The sand was watered copiously
between sets.
"There is no official cut-off sand
temperature to call off play; everything
is decided by him," said
FIVB's referee delegate Dirk Decher
from Switzerland, pointing to
Yaniv Noyman, the FIVB technical
supervisor from Israel, "and common
sense."
Common sense pushed two
women's matches scheduled for 1
p.m. to the evening. One of them
would pit second seeds Christina
Gschweidl and Barbara Hansel of
Austria against Julaluk Radarong
and Manerat Udomchavee of Thailand,
a place in the semifinals at
stake.
Two days earlier, Christina
Gschweidl had expressed mixed
emotions about going all the way in
the tournament, as she waited for
her third round match to commence.
"We've had no time to do any
sightseeing, and I find the culture
here very interesting. So many temples!
But," she added, "if we don't get
to see anything at all, it's a good thing.
It would mean we're doing well!"
Christina, the extrovert of the Austrian
pair was a big hit with the
crowds, gesturing to them between
points to up the volume of their
cheers. "We've had very good support
here, even though we beat an
Indian pair in our first match," she
laughed.
The cheering was at its loudest
when the Brazilian men's pair, the
eventual winners, played, reaching
a crescendo whenever the hulking,
long-haired Klepper Feitosa touched
the ball. Chants of "Come on,
Brazil!" comfortably drowned out
"Come on, Canada!" in the semifinal,
and "Come on, Italy!" in the
final.
The all-Thai women's final was
quieter, however, and the few
"Come on, Thailand!" shouts that
pierced the salty air were either of
indeterminate loyalty, neutrality,
or filled with irony.
KARTHIK KRISHNASWAMY
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