Punjab Police, Railways enter final

Punjab Police earned the first point off a defensive fault of bankmen. But Indian Bank levelled at 1-1 with a fine net-block by Manoharan and Sayeekrishnan. Bankmen again committed a mistake, which enabled the Police to score another point. In the next service, Bankmen equalised at 2-2.

At this stage, Punjab Police changed their tactics and guarded the net with Sandeep Singh-Manjeet Singh and Gurudeep Singh-Kanjith Singh combination.

The strategy worked well and the smashes of Manoharan and Sayeekrishnan were successfullyreturned to the rival’s court to make points. Manjeet Singh and Jagbir Singh also helped Punjab Police to accelerate the scoring rate. The first set finished in 22 minutes (15-8).

The second set was an exciting one. Though Police gained a 2-0 lead, Bankmen not only brought parity but also gained a two point lead to reach the score of 4-3. Thereafter, both the teams failed to move the score board. The service changed hands 11 times. Finally, a defensive lapse on the part of Bankmen helped cops to break the stalemate and score one point to bring parity (4-4).

Thereafter, the cops never looked back and slowly added points through smashes and drops and walked away with the set (15-9).

The third set was the most thrilling one. Both the teams resorted to an attacking game. At first, Punjab Police established lead. But, Bankmen levelled at 5-5, 7-7 and 11-11. However, cops succeded in settling the issue at 15-11.

With this victory, police entered the final for the seventh time. They have won the cups forfour times. Hot favourites Indian Railways played quite leisurely but still proved too good for their young Bengal rivals. Railways were shaky at start with a poor defence making it tough for the side to contain the early Bengal offensive. Mitu Roy and Saraban Kuntu breached the triple railway block of Nagavardan, Sangita and Shanty with remarkable ease. But when the score reached 6-6, veteran Salomi and Hemlata launched a series of counterattacks which left the West Bengal girls mere spectators. The team’s blocking trio also proved their centre and the opening set was Railways’ in under 24 minutes.

The second set was a relatively one-sided affair at the start despite occasional flashes of brilliance exhibited by Bengal’s Ranjana and Rajyashree, both of whom were off-colour in the first set. But Railways’ casual approach brought Bengal as close as 9-10 from 2-9 at one stage. However, a late resurgence by Railways enabled them to win the seocnd set too, in about 22 minutes.

The third set was evenlycontested and from 2-5 Bengal took a 8-5 lead. Bengal concentrated on net drops but a terrific Salomi strike levelled the score at 8-8 and the team did not face any resistance thereafter.