Tamil Nadu bagged the men’s crown in the senior National volleyball championships with a 25-18, 25-21, 21-25, 25-23 victory over Railways in the final here on Thursday. This was Tamil Nadu’s ninth title overall in the men’s event and the first after six years. Kerala defeated Railways 25-18, 25-14, 25-13 and retained the women’s title.
Head coach G. Dhinakaran praised the seniors for putting up a wonderful show. “G.R. Vaishnav, Ukkrapandian and Naveen Raja Jacob were really effective while the juniors did what was expected of them,” he said.
Dhinakaran said the team’s first objective in the final was to stop the Railways’ central blocker Ashwal and it was done successfully.
“Our attacker Ashwin and central blocker Manoj did really well,” he said.
The results:
Men’s final: TN bt Railways 25-18, 25-21, 21-25, 25-23; Third place play-off: Kerala bt Karnataka 25-21, 26-24, 25-19.
Women’s final: Kerala bt Railways 25-18, 25-14, 25-13; Third place play-off: Maharashtra bt West Bengal 25-18, 25-20, 25-12.
