It is early days at the 66th senior National volleyball championship, but Karnataka men are looking good. They posted their third win inside two days, and haven’t dropped a set.
On Thursday, Karnataka thrashed Jammu & Kashmir 5-13, 25-11, 25-17. That, however, is no guarantee it would advance to the knock-out stage. To do that, it has to beat Delhi, which also has three wins without conceding a set. That match on Friday will decide the winner of Pool E.
Exemplary
Against J & K all it took Karnataka was just 45 minutes, as it excelled in just about every department of the game. The men impressed particularly with their serves, with which they were able to score points directly on quite a few occasions.
A. Karthik came up with an outstanding effort for Karnataka, spiking with great power and precision besides doing a good job at the net. He received ample support from Anup D’Costa, C.M. Bharath and Raison Benet Rebello.
Railway women roll on
Earlier, women’s defending champion Railways posted its second successive win, over Tamil Nadu 26-24, 25-11, 25-16.
Tamil Nadu had raised hopes of an interesting encounter with its performance in the opening set, but once the Railway women found their rhythm it was certain that the match would not be extended to the fourth set.
The results (preliminary league):
Men: Pool A: Kerala bt Andhra Pradesh 27-25, 25-23, 25-14. Pool C: Madhya Pradesh bt Tripura 25-11, 25-7, 25-17; Gujarat bt Uttar Pradesh 25-17, 26-24, 25-12; Gujarat bt Chandigarh 25-23, 25-21, 25-20; Uttar Pradesh bt Madhya Pradesh 25-22, 25-17, 25-18.
Pool D: Odisha bt Pudcherry 25-18, 25-15, 21-25, 28-26. Pool E: Delhi bt Bihar 25-23, 25-17, 25-18; Karnataka bt Jammu & Kashmir 25-13, 25-11, 25-17; Delhi bt Chhattisgarh 25-20, 25-16, 25-19.
Pool F: Uttarakhand bt Bengal 25-18, 25-21, 25-20; Bengal bt Telengana 25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18; Uttarakhand bt Jharkhand 25-18, 25-19, 25-16.
Women: Pool A: Railways bt Tamil Nadu 26-24, 25-11, 25-16. Pool B: Kerala bt Telangana 25-16, 25-14, 25-23; Maharashtra bt Uttar Pradesh 25-17, 25-10, 25-10; Kerala bt Uttar Pradesh 25-15, 25-10, 25-14.
Pool C: Odisha bt Maharashtra 25-19, 25-22, 25-20; Gujarat bt Odisha 25-14, 25-14, 25-23; Mizoram bt Uttarakhand 25-7, 25-8, 25-12; Odisha bt Mizoram 25-16, 25-19, 25-18; Gujarat bt Uttarakhand 25-7, 25-6, 25-10.
Pool D: Bihar bt Jammu & Kashmir 21-25, 25-23, 25-27, 27-25, 15-6; Puducherry bt Assam 25-23, 25-19, 25-19; Punjab bt Puducherry 25-13, 25-18, 25-14; Karnataka bt Bihar 25-4, 25-3, 25-7; Karnataka bt Puducherry 25-11, 25-10, 25-17; Punjab bt Bihar 25-9, 25-13, 25-13.
Pool E: Jharkhand bt Tripura 25-3, 25-4, 25-6; Haryana bt Madhya Pradesh 25-20, 25-14, 25-19; Chandigarh bt Jharkhand 25-18, 25-16, 25-19.
Pool F: Rajasthan bt Jammu Kashmir 25-8, 25-14, 25-5; Delhi bt Chhattisarh 25-20, 25-20, 25-19; Delhi bt Himachal Pradesh 25-16, 25-21, 25-14; Rajasthan bt Chattisgarh 26-28, 25-10, 25-19, 25-20 .
