Thaindian News

Chennai, Dec 15 (IANS) Uttarkhand and Services scrambled into the men’s quarterfinals with last gasp victories in their respective league matches in the Velammal Silver Jubilee Senior National Volleyball Championships here Wednesday.Uttarkhand came up with a big effort to defeat fancied Railways 25-19, 25-21, 30-28 in their concluding Group B league match to qualify for the knock-out stage.

Despite the defeat, Railways, who had beaten Karnataka, joined Uttarkhand and Haryana in the quarterfinals.

From Group A, champions Tamil Nadu, with an all-win record, led the field into the round of eight followed by Kerala and Services, who defeated Punjab 25-15, 25-15, 25-12 in a decisive fixture.

In the women’s section, holders Indian Railways sailed through the league winning all their three matches to top Group A ahead of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh while qualifying from Group B were Kerala, Bengal and Karnataka.

The other two teams who will complete the quarterfinal line-up will be decided after the play-off rounds on Thursday when the fourth placed teams in Groups A and B will take on the four toppers from the lower tier groups (C, D, E and F).

The results (preliminary league):

Men - Group A: Services bt Punjab 25-15, 25-15, 25-12; Tamil Nadu bt Kerala 25-15, 20-25, 26-24, 25-16.
Group B: Uttarkhand bt Railways 25-19, 25-21, 30-28; Railways bt Karnataka 27-25, 25-18, 30-28.
Group C: Orissa bt Jammu-Kashmir 25-16,25-13,25-15.
Group D: West Bengal bt Goa 25-21, 25-19, 27-25; Madhya Pradesh bt Pondicherry 23-25, 25-12, 25-23, 25-21.
Group E: Rajasthan bt Andaman 25-4, 25-10, 25-13; Bihar bt Assam 25-15, 21-25, 25-16, 25-23.
Group F: Andhra Pradesh bt Chandigarh 25-12, 25-17, 25-19; HimachalPradesh bt Jharkhand 28-26,25-20,25-27,25-14.

Women - Group A: Andhra Pradesh bt Tamil Nadu 21-25,23-25,25-17,25-23,15-5.
Group C: Uttar Pradesh bt Rajasthan 25-13, 25-16, 25-16.
Group D: Uttarakhand bt Andaman 25-20, 25-18, 25-19; Maharashtra bt Orissa 25-7, 25-12, 25-18; Maharashtra bt Jammu-Kashmir 25-5, 25-8, 25-9; Orissa bt Andaman 25-5, 25-15, 25-6.
Group E: Madhya Pradesh bt Gujarat 25-13, 25-21, 25-6; Haryana bt Pondicherry 25-12,25-12,25-15.
Group F: Himachal Pradesh bt Assam 25-6, 25-6, 25-7; Punjab bt Delhi 25-5, 25-19, 25-17; Himachal Pradesh bt Delhi 25-14, 25-14, 25-12; Punjab bt Chhattisgarh 25-20, 25-18, 25-13.