India take on Australia for Commonwealth volleyball title

Kolkata, Aug 3 (UNI) India and Australia will clash in the final of 2nd Commonwealth Volleyball Championship after the duo cantered their way past their opponents today unleashing a power-packed game of attacking spikes.

While India romped past South Africa in straight sets 25-20, 29-27 and 25-18 to seal date into the final, Australia brushed aside Pakistan 25-16, 25-20, 26-24.

The hosts, buoyed by the thrilling win over formidable Australia yesterday, took 69 minutes to prevail over South Africa in all three sets to the wild cheers of the 5500 crowd at the Netaji Indoor stadium.

The Indians came back from the brink in the exciting second set as the South Africans played spiritedly. However, they choked on set point and conceded the set to the hosts. After this there was no looking back. The third set got over in 21 minutes.

The South African team's tactical move of slowing down the game to make the Indians play long rallies did not work as the visitors made lot of unforced errors.

Earlier, the first set lasted 21 minutes as India led consistently, with the South Africans never really managing to breach the early gap. The third set saw the two rivals going neck and neck till 9-9, before the Indians went ahead to settle the issue and romp into the title round.

For India, once again Sanjay Kumar finished as the top scorer as he let loose a barrage of smashes to garner 17 points. For South Africa, Chiya Freedom collected 15 points.

Indian coach G E Sridharan later said ''It is always a bit of a problem to adjust to a slow game after playing a very fast game a day before. But our boys did well''.

South African coach Elwassimy Hamid, who had coached India in 1998, admitted that the Indians deserved to win. ''They are more experienced, having played together for long. I think if they continue like this, then that day is not far off when they can run the leading countries of the world close. Only thing is they need to give more exposure to their bench players,'' said Elwassimy, who had coached India at the Bangkok Asian Games.

In the second semi-final, the Aussies unleashed their brand of power volley as they attacked everything and spoiled the Pakistani applecart. As the Pakistanis tried to grapple with the Aussie spikers in Earl and Benjamin hardy unleashing a series of smashes.

While the first two sets were through in 21 minutes each, the third set saw some big rallies and Pakistan came back strongly to level the points at 23-23. But a big serve from Hardy and smash by David Ferguson sealed the match in the Oceanian's favour.

Aussie skipper Benjamin later said, ''Two of the best teams are in the final and we are sure that it will be an absorbing match.

Indians are a very strong side and they will push us hard.' Coach Russell Borgeaud, ''We would surely like to win the final tomorrow. We have learnt a few lessons that we would like to put to use.'' Asked about a few points being contested by Pakistan, Benjamin Hardy, who earned the maximum of 15 points, said, ''It could be quite a trap. They thought that the referee had given a wrong decision and started to focus on the umpire instead of the opponents on the other side of the court.'' Asked to comment on today's match, Borgeaud said, ''Every match looks easy in perspective. But we had to play and work hard for the win. The results often dont reflect that.'' In other matches, Bangladesh beat New Zealand 21-25, 32-30, 25-22, 25-21 to take the seventh position. Captain Ali Mamun Sheikh was the highest scorer for the winners with 26 points. In another match, Canada outclassed Sri Lanka 27-25, 25-12, 25-18 to finish fifth in the competition. Gavin Schmitt scored the highest with 19 points for the winners. Sri Lanka and New Zealand thus finished sixth and eighth respectively.

UNI