The Hindu : Karnataka, Kerala women in last four

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 12, 2003

Sport

Sport - Volleyball

Karnataka, Kerala women in last four

By M.C. Raman

Triprayar Feb. 11. There was a vast improvement in Tamil Nadu's game, but that was not enough to stop Karnataka, which fought well to record its first win in women's Group B 25-20, 27-25, 25-15 in the 25th Federation Cup volleyball tournament at TSGA stadium here on Tuesday.

With the second loss in the group, Tamil Nadu bowed out of the competition. Kerala and Karnataka moved into the knock-out semifinals from this group.

Of the two Karnataka had better spiking power and Tejaswini was the frontline attacker for the team.

But Mamatha Shetty, the tallest player in the Karnataka side, and Hemalatha lent good support in offence. Supriya, who has joined the team again, played a more defensive role in the backcourt.

Still Tamil Nadu fought well in the first two sets. It was a neck and neck race in the first set in which Rathi, Thenmozhi and Selvakumari kept the Tamil Nadu attack going. Setter Nadia also did a neat job.

But when Karnataka was leading 21-20, Mamatha came to the front and started spiking.

Without net block Tamil Nadu lost the set. However, in the second set, Tamil Nadu took an 8-2 lead as there was utter confusion in the Karnataka team in taking first pass, choosing the attacker and setting the pass.

Even Tejaswani became erratic and Mamatha put away some easy placements.

Still, Karnataka rallied strongly and managed to equalise at 23.

At this stage Tejaswani regained her touch and Karnataka bagged the second set.

After that energy-sapping second set, the Tamil Nadu girls looked tired and slowed down the game.

That suited Karnataka which, with its better spiking power, wrapped up the match quickly.

TN men bounce back

Tamil Nadu bounced back as its main setter Thulasi Reddy joined the team and the defending champion combined smoothly to crush the National champion Uttaranchal 25-23, 25-18, 25-16 in a men's Group A match on Monday. Uttaranchal, with two losses, is now out of contention.

It was a smooth start for Tamil Nadu that took a 8-1 lead with quick attack and finish in the first set. But the team missed some finish balls and offered negative points which helped Uttaranchal to reduce the lead to two points (18-20). But centre blocker Manoharan rose to the occasion today, hitting the short ball sharply that shattered the rival defence.

Pradeep John, Harun Khan and Nadarjan joined the assault that shook the rival time and again, and in the end the Uttaranchal players — frustrated by the total shut out — argued with referee Anandan of Karnataka, who pulled Abhijit for carrying. He showed the yellow card to Abhijit Bhattacherjee, who helped Uttaranchal fight but also conceded more negative points through erratic spiking.

Uttaranchal's first pass was pretty bad and its attack came in bits and pieces. And the Tamil Nadu players blocked quickly in the first two sets, and that gave confidence to the team. Swaminathan, as libero, gave neat first passes that helped Tamil Nadu's attack right through.

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