India to face Aussies in final

The first set started at a blistering pace with both teams trading blow for blow, but Indian skipper K S Srikanth rose to the occasion and won the crucial first set for his team, almost single-handedly.

The second set had an intense start with the Proteas building up a two-point lead at 11-9. But Srikanth again came to his team’s rescue; his effortless spikes reduced the margin after an unusually long rally. K J Kapil Dev scored next to level the scores. From here on it was a neck-to-neck battle and the set eventually went into tie-breakers. The South African team’s tactical move of slowing down the game to make the Indians play long rallies did not work as the visitors made a lot of unforced errors.

The Indians used their opponent’s ploy to their advantage and eventually scraped home at 29-27. The third set also saw a close fight till 9-9, before the Indians went ahead to settle the issue and romp into the title round.

For India, Sanjay Kumar finished as the top scorer as he let loose a barrage of smashes to garner 17 points, followed closely by Srikanth, who got 15 points. For South Africa, Chiya Freedom collected 15 points.

Indian coach G E Sridharan later said: “It is always a bit of a problem to adjust to a slow game after playing a very fast game a day before. But our boys did well.”

South African coach Elwassimy Hamid, who had coached India during the Asian Games in1998, admitted that the Indians deserved to win. “They are more experienced, having played together for a long time. I think if they continue like this, then that day is not far off when they can challenge the top countries of the world. But for that they need more international exposure,” Elwassimy said.

In the second semi-final, the Aussies thumped Pakistan 25-16, 25-20, 26-24. The Aussies completely dominated the proceedings and captain Hardy Benjamin was the frontman for the Kangaroos, scoring 15 crucial points.

The Pakistanis, who so far had whitewashed their opponents in the group stage, looked completely off colour and were seen busy challenging, “line calls” rather than concentrating on their own game. And the result was inevitable. Naseer Ahmed was the top scorer for the Pakistanis with 11 points.

Aussie coach Russell Borgeaud said his boys were ready for the Indian challenge and quipped: “Tomorrow will be a new game. Our boys are prepared and we have a very good bench strength, which we have not revealed so far. So rest assured we will put up a grand show tomorrow. India buoyed by the crowd support will be deadly, but we will be up to it.”

In other matches, Bangladesh beat New Zealand 21-25, 32-30, 25-22, 25-21 to take the seventh position. Canada outclassed Sri Lanka 27-25, 25-12, 25-18 to finish fifth.

Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Volleyball Championship Committee has decided to conduct the event every two years. The next championship will be held in India or Pakistan in 2009.