The women’s final of the 72nd Senior National Volleyball Championship held on Sunday (January 11) at the indoor court of Sigra Stadium in Varanasi became historic. In the exciting final match of the women’s category, Kerala defeated Railways and achieved the honor of becoming champion. In the men’s category, Railway Smashers defeated Kerala’s challenge and captured the title.
Railways were the runners-up in the women’s category and Kerala were the runners-up in the men’s category. Whereas in the hard line match, the teams of Punjab and Rajasthan had dominance. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, Mayor Ashok Kumar Tiwari and President of Uttar Pradesh Volleyball Association participated as chief guests in the prize distribution ceremony organized by the Municipal Corporation. During this, trophies and medals were awarded to the winning teams.
Railways captured the title by defeating Kerala 3-0
The Railways men’s team continued its brilliant performance and won the championship trophy by defeating Kerala 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-19) in the final match in straight sets. During the entire match, the Railways players presented such an example of coordination and aggressive play that the Kerala team could not make a comeback in the match even once.
Railway captain Angamuthu, taking command of the team, put mental pressure on Kerala from the very beginning. His powerful smash was the turning point of the match. Rohit Kumar showed excellent sportsmanship and scored points and gave edge to the team’s attack. George Antony took advantage of his height and timing at the net and foiled Kerala’s attacks. The rest of the players of the team also performed brilliantly.
The Kerala team, which was the runner-up, tried to make a comeback, but could not maintain the momentum. Sethu TR of Kerala Struggled as captain and was the leading scorer for her team. Erin Varghese scored some good points by dodging the blockers for Railways. Whereas Mujeeb M.C. And Rahul K. Tried to stop the attack on the railways with coordination. Although the team lost.
Kerala daughters defeated Indian Railways 3-2
The women’s final of the 72nd Senior National Volleyball Championship became historic. In this match, Kerala’s daughters won the title by defeating their rival Indian Railways 3-2. The Kerala team, which made a brilliant comeback after falling behind, did not give any chance to Railways in the deciding set.
The beginning of the match was in favor of Railways, where they won the first set 25-22. After this, Kerala counterattacked strongly and strengthened its hold by winning two consecutive sets 25-20 and 25-15. Railways made a comeback in the fourth set and won 25-22 and pushed the match into the decisive fifth set. However, in the final set, Railways looked helpless in front of Kerala’s powerful smash and defence, and Kerala won the set 15-8 and lifted the championship trophy.
Team unity and strategic skills played a major role in Kerala’s title success. Anushree, who was the main architect of the team’s victory, defeated the Railways’ defense with her wrist magic and aggressive smashes. Anushree’s precise strikes at every crucial juncture added points to Kerala’s kitty. Whereas, Shivpriya ji is in command of the defence. In the role of libero, Shivpriya showed amazing agility on the field and not only stopped the fast-paced attacks of Railways, but also created an opportunity to convert them into counter attacks. Anagha R on the net. Stood like an impenetrable wall. Due to her excellent blocking, even the experienced players of Railways were seen struggling to steal points. When the match seemed stuck in the middle overs of the game, Nandana V. and Anna Mathew showed their experience.
In the end the coordination of railways disintegrated
The loss of a strong team like Indian Railways in the final was shocking for sports lovers. When the match reached the fifth and deciding set, the Railways team disintegrated under pressure. While Kerala showed aggression, Railway players became defensive. The biggest technical reason for Railways’ defeat was their ‘first pass’. Railway players failed many times to receive the fast service of Kerala. Apart from this, after the fourth set, Railways hit or threw out the service net on many important occasions, gifting free points to Kerala. Whereas Kerala’s Anushree K.P. And the Railways front line failed to stop Anna Mathew’s powerful smash. There was a lack of coordination between the blockers and defenders of Railways at the net, taking advantage of which Kerala repeatedly dropped the ball in the empty areas (death zone) of Railways.
On the last day of the championship, the teams of Punjab and Rajasthan established their dominance and captured the bronze medal. While Punjab defeated Services in the men’s category, Rajasthan defeated Haryana in the women’s category. In a tough match in the men’s category, the Punjab team defeated Services 3-0 in straight sets. With this victory, Punjab has secured the third place (hard line match) in the tournament. During the entire match, Punjab players displayed aggressive play and excellent coordination.
Punjab players dominated from the beginning
Punjab players dominated from the beginning of the match. Punjab took the lead in the first set by winning 25-21. In the second set, Services tried to make a comeback, but they did not succeed in front of Punjab’s defense and Punjab won this set 25-23. In the third set, Punjab completely controlled the game and won the match and the medal with the score of 25-18. For Punjab, Jasjot Singh and Preet Karan performed brilliantly in the smash. Whereas Kuldeep Singh and Prince put up a strong wall at the net.
On the other hand, from Services side, Vikram and Shikhar Singh tried to bring the team back by scoring points on several occasions. Naresh Kumar and Chirag S. Kumar’s performance was also commendable. Libero Rohan Anthony handled the responsibility of defense very well, but he failed to stop the storm of Punjab.
Rajasthan’s great victory over Haryana
In the hardline match of women’s category, Rajasthan team demonstrated its brilliant game by defeating Haryana 3-1 and secured third place in the tournament. During the entire match, Rajasthan players played aggressively and did not give any big chance to Haryana to make a comeback.
Rajasthan maintained pressure from the beginning of the match. In the first two sets, Rajasthan defeated Haryana in a one-sided fashion by 25-14 and 25-12, however, in the third set, Haryana tried to make a comeback and won the set by 20-25, but in the fourth set, Rajasthan again gained momentum and won the set by 25-14. Gunjan Rani was the main facilitator of Rajasthan team, her precise passes and coordination defeated Haryana’s defence. Ayushi Bhandari and Ritu Bijarania worked like a wall at the net and scored points through smashes.
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya Brajesh Pathak, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Stamp and Court Registration Fees Ravindra Jaiswal, MLA Saurabh Srivastava, MLC Hansraj Vishwakarma, MLC Dharmendra Rai, senior journalist Hemant Sharma, former Gujarat MLA Jagdish Patel, former Vice Chancellor of BHU Prof. Punjab Singh, former Mayor Koshlendra Singh and other public representatives, Municipal Corporation officials and sports personalities encouraged the players.
Kashi created history by hosting for the first time
Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Khelo India’ campaign, the Municipal Corporation has created a new history by organizing the 72nd Senior National Volleyball Championship held in Kashi, the city of religion and spirituality. The Prime Minister had virtually inaugurated it on January 4. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had boosted the morale of the players by physically coming to the stadium.
Organizing Committee Chairman and Mayor Ashok Kumar Tiwari said that Uttar Pradesh has got the opportunity to host this national level competition after a long wait of 42 years. Earlier in the year 1984, Kanpur had successfully hosted the Senior National Volleyball Championship. From then till now the sports lovers of the state were waiting for this big event. The special thing is that for the first time, national level volleyball was organized not only in Varanasi but in the entire Purvanchal region. After decades, this event held in UP not only filled new enthusiasm among the local players but also gave a new identity to the sports infrastructure of Kashi.
Championship at a glance
30 states represented
06 Union Territories
1044 players
30 teams in men’s category
28 teams in women’s category
100 match referee
60 Indian Volleyball Association officials and selectors
The event was completed with the help of 200 volunteers.
Report/ Shailesh Chaurasia