Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) assured itself of the women’s championship, sweeping all the four matches in the SAIL-Panimalar-John Memorial volleyball tournament at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium on Friday. KSEB defeated Dr. Sivanthi Club comfortably 25-14, 25-19, 26-24.
In the other women’s match, Southern Railway beat Indian Junior Team 25-14, 25-5, 25-17.
In the men’s section, the Indian Junior squad prevailed over Kerala Police 19-25, 27-25, 19-25, 25-20, 16-14, SDAT beat Indian Youth team 23-25, 25-13, 25-17, 25-27, 15-13.
Easy for MCTM
MCTM prevailed over Sivaswamy Kalalaya 59-13 in the Mahendran Memorial Club inter-schools basketball tournament at the Nungambakkam Corporation Playground on Friday.
The results: MCTM 59 (Karthi 16, S. Kannan 10) bt Sivaswamy Kalalaya 13; Loyola 47 (Daniel 27) bt Sethubaskara 44 (Vishal 15); Bhavans 57 (Dhimant 20, Varun 13) bt PAKP, Thiruvottiyur 45 (Bala 10, Yuvanesh 10).
Excise posts win
Central Excise clung on to its lead to script a 4-3 win over Lucknow Sports Hostel in a quarterfinal match of the IOB-Syed Ahmed Memorial all-India hockey tournament, at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium, here on Friday.
Leading 4-1 early in the second half, CE let down its guard and the Sports Hostel boys came back strongly to score twice in quick succession. It threatened to equalise, but the CE defenders stayed firm.
The first half began on a sedate note, with both teams not making any sort of impact. Faiz Alam finally put Hostel ahead in the 20th minute through a penalty corner that hit the top of the roof. Laxman Karan equalised soon after with a neat push home — the goal looked unlikely as the goalkeeper came sliding and a bunch of defenders were closing in on the striker.
Within a few minutes, Karan scored off a penalty corner as the teams went into the break.
CE dominated the beginning of the second session with quick counterattacks from the flanks, and soon got its reward when a Sathya Rajan’s backhander found the net. A marauding run by Karan saw him being pulled down, and the resultant stroke was converted by Stephen Babu.
Goals by Sports Hostel’s Uttam Kumar (49th) and Imran Khan (57th) forced CE to defend its lead stoutly.
In a last eight match, Army XI drubbed Southern Railway 8-2. Rajesh Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Sunil Ekka, Chittaranjan, Arumugam (2) and Poovanna (2) converted for Army XI. Jayraj and Ganesh netted for Railways.
