Thaindian News

Chennai, Dec 17 (IANS) Playing an inspired game, Kerala knocked out fancied Haryana in straight sets en route to the men’s semi-finals of the Velammal Silver Jubilee Senior National volleyball championship here Friday.Joining Kerala in the semis were Tamil Nadu who pounded Karnataka 3-0 while the Indian Railways overcame Services 3-1 and Uttarkhand ousted Punjab 3-0.

In the semi-finals, Tamil Nadu take on Railways and Uttarakhand face Kerala.

In the women’s section, defending champions Indian Railways and Bengal were the first to reach the semi-finals with straightforward victories over Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, respectively.

Later, Karnataka overcame a 1-2 deficit to beat Andhra Pradesh in a five-set thriller while Kerala eliminated Uttar Pradesh 3-0 to complete the semi-final line-up.

The semi-finals pit the Railways against Bengal and Kerala against Karnataka.

In terms of a contest, the spotlight was on the Railways vs Services match that saw the teams taking turns to dominate before the former came through.

The Services had the game seemingly under control when they took the first set, but the Railways bounced back in style to take the second.

Thereafter, the teams went neck and neck but the Railways showed greater consistency and a better all-court game to emerge deserving winners.

The results (all quarter-finals):

Men: Indian Railways bt Services 14-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-21; Kerala bt Haryana 25-19, 25-20, 25-15; Tamil Nadu bt Karnataka 25-20, 25-22, 25-20; Uttarakhand bt Punjab 25-18, 25-19, 25-20.

Women: Indian Railways bt Himachal Pradesh 25-18, 25-14, 25-19; Bengal bt Tamil Nadu 25-19, 25-14, 25-20; Karnataka bt Andhra Pradesh 25-20, 21-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-7; Kerala bt Uttar Pradesh 25-15, 25-22, 25-15.