Jeepiaar women’s team enters final

Jeppiaar won the first two sets by a comfortable margin and looked all set to wrap up the contest in straight sets. Deft touches, smart smashes and extended rallies made the tie pulsating. What looked like a damp squib suddenly had the makings of a thriller as Dr. Sivanthi was not willing to go down without a fight. It dug deep into its reserves of resilience and fought gallantly to claim the third and fourth sets. 

There is no love lost between these two teams and their clashes are often marked by animosity. Buoyed by winning the third set, Dr. Sivanthi Club's confidence grew as also its lead and, at that juncture, it seemed that the tide had decisively turned in its favour, heading into the final set.

The fifth set was truly a see-saw affair as the lead kept changing hands at the completion of each point and the heightened levels of anxiety added to the drama. 

However, not for nothing has Jeppiaar been a three-time defending champion and, despite fielding a depleted team, its class told in the end as it reeled off three successive points to win the set 15-12 and march into the final on Saturday.

A relieved VK Om Prakash, coach of Jeppiaar, gave credit to Dr. Sivanthi Club for clawing its way back and stretching the match to the wire. “Our blocking completely crumbled in the two sets we lost. And that in turn had a bearing on our defence as well. We did well to cling onto our lead in the final set. I’m confident of winning the trophy and if that happens it will be a bigger achievement than our previous title winning-runs,” said Om Prakash.