Khelo India 2019, Volleyball: TN, Kerala share spoils in Under-21 Volleyball finals

Khelo India Youth Games-Boys Under-21 Volleyball champions Kerala

Pune, January 20: Tamil Nadu and Kerala won three medals each as they dominated the volleyball competition at the Khelo India Youth Games here. Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal were the next best with two each.

The two teams from southern India shared the spoils in the Under-21 category on the final day of the games, at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex on Sunday. Tamil Nadu won the girls’ U-21 final, while Kerala took gold in the boys’ U-21 category.

In the Girls’ final, Tamil Nadu made a stunning comeback to win gold after losing the first two games to Kerala, who got off to a strong start and had cruised to a 25-23, 25-11 lead.

Tamil Nadu turned things around with a 25-23 win in a tight third set. They followed that up with an equally strong performance to finally prevail 23-25, 11-25, 25-23, 25-18, 15-9 in just under two hours.

The Boys’ U-21 final saw favourites Kerala overcome Tamil Nadu in a tense four-set battle to stay unbeaten en route to the gold. Tamil Nadu made a good start to win the first set 25-21 and it was the first set Kerala had dropped in the tournament.

Kerala were quick to make a comeback and never let their guard down thereafter despite strong resistance from Tamil Nadu to eventually win 21-25, 25-15, 25-23, 25-20.

West Bengal denied Maharashtra a medal, beating the hosts in the Girls’ U-17 final.

After having beaten them previously in the Girls’ U-21 bronze medal match a day earlier, West Bengal dominated the U-17 final against Maharashtra from start to win 25-15, 25-13, 25-14.

In the Boys’ U-17 category, Uttar Pradesh registered a comfortable 25-17, 25-20, 25-23 victory over Gujarat to win gold. This was their second medal after the victory over Punjab for bronze in the boys’ U-21 category.