Karnataka crowned champs

State men win with better score quotient; Kerala grab women's title

Karnataka were adjudged champions after the hosts, Tamil Nadu and Kerala all ended with seven points each. But Karnataka were placed on top thanks to their better score quotient of 1.403 as against Kerala’s 1.351 and Tamil Nadu’s 1.290.

Karnataka were aggressive right from the start of the first set bulding a 14-7 lead.
Nagesh and Deepak Shetty were the stars for the hosts as they enthralled the capacity crowd with their setting and smashing. Naveen Kumar chipped in with some important points which proved crucial in the first set.

Karnataka's blocking was equally good with Suresh and Karthik putting up a difficult front for the Tamil Nadu smashers leading to a 25-18 first set victory.  The second set saw Tamil Nadu bouncing back. Karnataka were leading the set comfortably at 18-13 when Tamil Nadu pulled back 5 points to make it 18-18.

For Tamil Nadu, Dhilip and Saravanan were doing the star turn with their brilliant smashing, setting and blocking that caught the hosts off guard.  Karnataka however held their nerve in the final moments of the set to clinch it 25-23. The hosts grabbed the initiative early in the third set as they took a 5-3 lead. Nagesh was excellent with his smashing as he latched on to passes well. Suresh's drop passes were also creating panic in the Tamil Nadu camp as Karnataka took a firm hold in the match.

Now going from strength to strength, Karnataka consolidated their position at 15-9. Deepak Shetty was contributing his mite to the team with his clever serves which caught the Tamil Nadu men off guard. Without further ado, Karnataka wrapped up the set and match 25-19.

Earlier, Karnataka women suffered a setback losing to Kerala 25-17, 25-15, 25-14 as leading to Kerala being crowned champions with Karnataka taking the runners-up spot and Tamil Nadu finishing third.

The match was dominated by Kerala right from the beginning. For Kerala Jomol and Prajisha were doing the chief tormentors with both of them combining well. Kerala won the first set 25-17 without breaking much sweat.

The next two sets saw Karnataka struggling to keep pace with the smashing of Alphonsa, Sheeba and Soumya leading to them taking the sets 25-15, 25-14 an with it the match and title.

Earlier in the day Tamil Nadu defeated Puducherry convincingly  25-6, 25-10, 25-6 in their last match.

Results: round-robin league: Men: Karnataka bt Tamil Nadu 25-18, 25-23, 25-19; Kerala bt Andhra Pradesh 25-13, 25-10, 25-8.

Women: Kerala bt Karnataka 25-17, 25-15, 25-14; Tamil Nadu bt Puducherry 25-6, 25-10, 25-6.

Final rankings: Men: Karnataka, 1; Kerala, 2; Tamil Nadu, 3.