Kerala, Railways retain national volleyball titles

Reigning champions Kerala turned on the style and outplayed Tamil Nadu 25-22, 25-23, 25-23 to retain the men’s crown in the 61st Senior National volleyball championship at the Sawai Man Singh Indoor Stadium in Jaipur.

Kerala, which fielded a relatively young side in this year’s nationals save for two internationals – Tom Joseph and Vibin M George – called the shots from the word go and never allowed Tamil Nadu to get a firm grip on the contest.

Kerala, who were beaten by Tamil Nadu in the league phase, clinched the opening set at 25-22 before going on to bag the second set at 25-13 – they closed out the match at 25-23 to win the national title for the fifth time.

Kerala were well served by the seasoned Tom Joseph, who excelled with his power-packed smashes. The likes of Vibin M. George. K.S. Ratheesh,S. Ajesh and P. Rohith were engaging in razor-sharp smashes and rock-solid blocks to nullify the 2011 national champions’ plans of playing a spoiler to their title hopes.

Tamil Nadu featuring internationals like G.R. Vaishnav, G. Pradeep and Naveen Raja Jacob put up a decent show but it was never going to be enough against a Kerala side which dished out a supreme all-round performance.

Uttarakhand, who stunned 2011 and 2012 champions Tamil Nadu in the semifinals of the 2012 nationals and finish runners-up, had to settle for a third-place finish, pipping Haryana 25-18, 25-15, 25-20 in the play-off match.

Kerala women, however, were not so lucky. Their bid to exact sweet revenge against Railways for their last year’s national final defeat came a cropper as they went down to their much formidable opponents 17-25, 21-25, 14-25.

This was the 28th time Railways have won the national crown – their fifth on the trot.

Andhra Pradesh took the third spot beating Tamil Nadu in straight sets.

Results (Finals):

Men: Final: Kerala bt Tamil Nadu 25-22, 25-23, 25-23.

Third place: Uttarakhand bt Haryana 25-18, 25-15, 25-20.

Women: Final: Railways bt Kerala 25-17, 25-21, 25-14.

Third place: Andhra Pradesh bt Tamil Nadu 25-19, 25-9, 25-20.