Senior National Volleyball Championship | Kerala women pull off stunner against Railways; Karnataka emerge as men’s champion
The Kerala women’s volleyball team registered an impressive 20-25, 25-17, 17-25, 25-19, 15-8 to win against 10-time champions in the women’s category - Indian Railways. Meanwhile, in the men’s category, Karnataka was crowned Senior National Champions after defeating Tamil Nadu.
The 67th edition of the Senior National Volleyball finals was held at the Nehru indoor stadium in Chennai on Thursday. The highlight of the day was the surprise win of the Kerala women’s volleyball team who upstaged 10-time defending champions, Indian Railways in the finals of the women’s category.
Kerala won 3-2 (20-25, 25-17, 17-25, 25-19, 15-8) to end the reign Railways in the Senior National Championship over the last decade. In the women’s summit clash, Railways got off to a quick start and went ahead 8-4 before Kerala clawed its way back and levelled at 17-all, Railways won the first set 25-20. Kerala fought back and after four sets the game was tied at 2-2 and set up a decider in the process.
The final set saw the two sides fight hard but Kerala went ahead 10-8. There was no stopping Kerala from there as the team won seven points on the trot to complete a memorable victory. The South Indian team had last won the women’s title in 2007.
Amongst the men, the volleyball team from Karnataka emerged as winners as they defeated Tamil Nadu by a margin of 3-1. After initially losing the first set 21-25, the Karnataka team bounced back and won the next three sets 36-34, 25-18, 25-14. The loss of the second saw Tamil Nadu players lose steam and go down without much of a fight.