Kerala U-17 boys were stretched to the limit by Tamil Nadu before steady nerves in the decider made the difference on the volleyball court at the Khelo Indian Youth Games. Two sets up and looking to clinch the league tie, the former were swept aside by fightback from their rivals in the third and fourth sets. The final scoreline was 25-21, 30-28, 18-25, 18-25, 16-14 in Kerala’s favour.
Kerala won points at vital stages in the decider with power-packed smashes by the attackers and cheeky drops by the setter. TN players’ body language changed after taking the third set, the fourth saw Kerala giving away points with mistakes under pressure, before the spikers got back the rhythm and confidence.
TN coach Mahesh Kumar pointed out that co-ordination needed to improve and sounded confident of tackling the threat from aggressive Rajasthan. “Seven regulars are not present here, they are playing the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) Nationals in Andhra Pradesh. Co-ordination and first pass was priority during the preparation camp, more work needs to be done, “said the coach, attached to SDAT.
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Darshini, Rudra show might
S Darshini (girls U-21 81kg category) and S Rudra Mayan (boys u-17 102kg) were impressive winners for Tamil Nadu in weightlifting competition. The former managed a total lift of 192kgs (snatch 85, clean and jerk 107kg) to grab the gold. The latter was in a class of his own with a total lift of 269kgs (snatch 118kg, clean and jerk 151kg).
Others winners were Vaishnavi Pawar of Maharashtra (girls U-17 81kg) 114 total lift, Muskan Singh of Haryana (girls U-17 81kg) 135, Pushpendra Singh Chaudhar of UP (boys U-17 102kg) 254, B Vishnu Vardhan of AP (boys u-21 102kg) 279.
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Weightlifer Rudra Malyan action photo by Jignesh Mistry can be used.