Kerala Seniors, IOB in finals

Kerala seemed to have taken their younger colleagues rather lightly at the start but were forced to change their perceptions soon, after Kerala Youth took a 5-1 lead. But a spate of deft placements and a flurry of smashes from Praseeda and Anu Jacob altered the complexion of the first set and the seniors went on to take a 7-5 lead.

The hosts’ senior team went on a rampage afterwards even as their younger opponents messed up with poor retrievals, reception of first passes and misdirected strikes. The youth team left wide gaps all over their court and the seniors had little trouble in landing the ball onvacant spots. The game was over when Reshmi Paul failed to gather an Anu smash from the centre. The game lasted only 20 minutes.

The second set hardly evoked any interest among spectators, though the younger team staged a remarkable rally and came as close as 8-9 from 1-9. It was Neethu Raphy’s good setting which helped its attackers Neethu, Siby nd Vinitha Vincent go on a rampage. However, the youngsters could not offer much of a fight later and lost the second too at the same score 8-15.

The third set was in no way different from the first two sets though Kerala seniors were playing below their abilities. They wrapped up the set 15-1, and clinched a berth in the final.

Later in a men section semi-final, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Chennai, defeated Southern Railways in straight sets 15-12, 15-8, 15-5 to meet Punjab Police in the final tomorrow.

The first set was a tough tussle between the teams with scores levelling on several occasions. But in the end, the bankmen played cautiously and managed tofinish it in their favour after 30 minutes play. In the second and third sets the bank men clearly had an edge over the Railways, especially Godwin Abraham and M Kumar doing their job well.