Well, I am delighted to inform you all that we won the finals of the Volley Ball Match played against Guru's Team on 19th February. I would like to take you all thru the events that followed that day. The day before we had the finals I must say Rakesh's team did an excellent job. They put an amazing show the other day. They had to play a league match against Guru's team. It was a virtual semi-final. The one who wins that match would play against us in the finals. Rakesh' s team started of well and they went to win the first set against all odds. They also did well in the first half of the second set and were leading 10-2 half way thru the second set. However Guru's smash hit Chandru on the eye and he suffered a minor injury. There was a long pause in the game and this broke the rythm of Rakesh's team and Gurus team made use of this break and regrouped themselves and came back well to win the second set 13-15. And the match was evenly poised. Two teams had equal opportunity to win. Though Rakesh's team did well in the third set, Guru's team was better that day and went on to win the third set and set up a final between then and our team.
We had defeated Guru's team in the league match. So all of us were confident of giving the same treatment to them in the finals. However, we thought to ourselves not to be overconfident. It has been long since we played volleyball. As we had to go to office daily, we did not find enough time to practice. So all our team mates decided to come early on the day of finals to do some warm up. I too thought of coming early. However, as bad habits die hard, I went late to office on that day. So I had left office late in the evening. So i could not join my team mates and I came to campus by 8.30PM. I got myself ready and did some warm up just before the match began.
Lot of people turned out for the match. The stage was set up for the big match. Both the teams arrived on the ground. Our team captain Prabodh a.k.a James won the toss and we chose the court. There was lot of support for both the teams. We had a team meeting just before the match started. We just wanted to keep it simple and play our natural game. The umpires for the day were from junior batch Adavan and Khanana. The match started with huge roar from crowd. Initially ducky was little rusty, understandable as he did not play for a long time. We know each other well and we know he just needs some time to get settled before he can get going. We soon went into lead half way thru the first set. At one point the score read 14-9 in favour of us. However because of our mistakes and some good play from Guru's team they got thru the first set. After few minutes the second set started. We knew that to win the game we had to win the remaining two sets. Once again we had a team meeting and wanted ourselves to keep it simple. Second set was neck and neck. Mid way thru the second set the score read 9-9. It was Ravikanth's turn to serve. He kept it simple and we comfortably went into lead once again. Raj by this time got into the groove and started smashing the ball. We went on to win the second set 15-10.
The game went into the final set. Both the teams had to battle it out in the third set. The crowd were excited. We were also excited. We wanted to keep the rythm going. Third set too was neck and neck. At one point the score read 9-9. Once again it was Ravikanth's turn to serve. Ravikanth's serve was lucky for us that day and soon we got into lead. The score read 14-9. At this time we knew that if we do not make any mistakes the cup would be ours. However, there was an incident. The ball hit the tree and Raj hit the ball on the second attempt. And Nareen took it on the third attempt. However, it was a difficult ball for him. As the ball hit the tree we asked the umpire to rule it as reserve. Umpire Adavan ruled it as reserve. However, the opposition team were nervous by this time and wanted the decison in their favour. There were some heated arguments exchanged and finally we decided to put an end by asking umpire to give the decision in their favour. Soon we broke their serve. Prabodh made an excellent block and it brought smiles on all our faces and all those who were supporting us. We wer inching closer to win. It was Raj's turn to serve. He made a simple underarm serve and after a few rallies the opposition team hit the ball out. It kicked off wild celebrations in us. All of us were delighted to see the ball going out. All our supporters came running towards us and congratulated us. It was the most satisfying feeling. We were on cloud nine.
It was a great team effort through out the tournament. We all know each other's abilities well. Well Prabodh made our job easier. Guru known be the best smasher in our college was blocked. Prabodh made our job in the back lifting the ferociously hit balls lift easier by blocking most of his smashes. Ravikanth in the centre did a fine job. Raj and Chandu did a fine job in the smashing position. Nareen and I had to cover the second half of the court. Nareen also played his role well. Overall all of us enjoyed playing in each others company. The secret of our success is knowing each others abilities well and jelling as a unit. Last but not the least the support we received from our friends.
We had defeated Guru's team in the league match. So all of us were confident of giving the same treatment to them in the finals. However, we thought to ourselves not to be overconfident. It has been long since we played volleyball. As we had to go to office daily, we did not find enough time to practice. So all our team mates decided to come early on the day of finals to do some warm up. I too thought of coming early. However, as bad habits die hard, I went late to office on that day. So I had left office late in the evening. So i could not join my team mates and I came to campus by 8.30PM. I got myself ready and did some warm up just before the match began.
Lot of people turned out for the match. The stage was set up for the big match. Both the teams arrived on the ground. Our team captain Prabodh a.k.a James won the toss and we chose the court. There was lot of support for both the teams. We had a team meeting just before the match started. We just wanted to keep it simple and play our natural game. The umpires for the day were from junior batch Adavan and Khanana. The match started with huge roar from crowd. Initially ducky was little rusty, understandable as he did not play for a long time. We know each other well and we know he just needs some time to get settled before he can get going. We soon went into lead half way thru the first set. At one point the score read 14-9 in favour of us. However because of our mistakes and some good play from Guru's team they got thru the first set. After few minutes the second set started. We knew that to win the game we had to win the remaining two sets. Once again we had a team meeting and wanted ourselves to keep it simple. Second set was neck and neck. Mid way thru the second set the score read 9-9. It was Ravikanth's turn to serve. He kept it simple and we comfortably went into lead once again. Raj by this time got into the groove and started smashing the ball. We went on to win the second set 15-10.
The game went into the final set. Both the teams had to battle it out in the third set. The crowd were excited. We were also excited. We wanted to keep the rythm going. Third set too was neck and neck. At one point the score read 9-9. Once again it was Ravikanth's turn to serve. Ravikanth's serve was lucky for us that day and soon we got into lead. The score read 14-9. At this time we knew that if we do not make any mistakes the cup would be ours. However, there was an incident. The ball hit the tree and Raj hit the ball on the second attempt. And Nareen took it on the third attempt. However, it was a difficult ball for him. As the ball hit the tree we asked the umpire to rule it as reserve. Umpire Adavan ruled it as reserve. However, the opposition team were nervous by this time and wanted the decison in their favour. There were some heated arguments exchanged and finally we decided to put an end by asking umpire to give the decision in their favour. Soon we broke their serve. Prabodh made an excellent block and it brought smiles on all our faces and all those who were supporting us. We wer inching closer to win. It was Raj's turn to serve. He made a simple underarm serve and after a few rallies the opposition team hit the ball out. It kicked off wild celebrations in us. All of us were delighted to see the ball going out. All our supporters came running towards us and congratulated us. It was the most satisfying feeling. We were on cloud nine.
It was a great team effort through out the tournament. We all know each other's abilities well. Well Prabodh made our job easier. Guru known be the best smasher in our college was blocked. Prabodh made our job in the back lifting the ferociously hit balls lift easier by blocking most of his smashes. Ravikanth in the centre did a fine job. Raj and Chandu did a fine job in the smashing position. Nareen and I had to cover the second half of the court. Nareen also played his role well. Overall all of us enjoyed playing in each others company. The secret of our success is knowing each others abilities well and jelling as a unit. Last but not the least the support we received from our friends.
3 comments:
excellent description of the events ra...it took me back to the day we played the game...
Hope you continue to blog often...
Hearty Congratulations mate .... Keep winning and keep smiling ... And as james said " Do update your blog regularly ! "
PS : Nice template ra ... I had already used this template ... Do little modification .. Add some script so that the date comes up on the gif image !
While reading the description, my mind went back to the match and felt the same excitement when playing the match...
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