Panaji: Tamil Nadu lived up to expectations with triumphs in the boys and girls categories, but Goa still had something to cheer as the girls team won bronze at the U-17 National School Games Beach Volleyball Championship at Miramar on Thursday.Tamil Nadu teams showed maturity beyond their age and played a methodical game to outsmart their rivals. In the boy’s section, Vishva and Mohamed Arshat edged out Telangana’s Vishnu G and Rishi Varma 21-12, 21-17, while the TN girls pair of MN Dharshanaa and Rithany S did well to fight back from a set down to snatch the title from right under the nose of West Bengal’s Tanusri Roy and Neetu Rajbir 19-21, 21-15, 15-10 in an exciting final.The victories were a reflection of the teams’ strengths. Tamil Nadu teams were clearly a cut above the rest, with prior experience of navigating beach volleyball. Their opponents in the final, particularly West Bengal in the girls section, fought tooth and nail, only to be outwitted in the end.Even among the boys, Telangana’s Rishi and Vishnu responded with some powerful smashes but a calm Tamil Nadu never appeared to lose faith in their ability to win points in crunch situations.The day’s other newsmakers were the Goan pair of Deepali Kusta Gawas and Roshni Rama Gaonkar. Cheered by their school mates from Sattari, the pair defeated Gujarat 21-16, 21-12 to win the bronze medal, a fitting reward for a team that took to beach volleyball just a month ago.“The girls have immense potential, and if they stick to beach volleyball, they can go far,” said coach Milagrina Mascarenhas. “We started training last month and the girls traveled from Sattari (to Miramar) every day, never missing training sessions. Our residential camp (from April 1) helped a lot.”Deepali and Roshni are both regular volleyball players who took to beach volleyball by chance. “Their ball control and strength is very good,” said the coach.Roshni was part of the Goa U-19 beach volleyball team for the Nationals in West Bengal earlier this year. Deepali, on the other hand, does not even have a school team since nobody from her school plays volleyball. “I played with the boys and that’s how I saw improvement,” she said.In the boys section, Goa’s Narendra Vasudev Gaonkar and Vedant Devidas Kavlekar were outplayed by Gujarat in the match for third place, after eventual champions Tamil Nadu proved too strong in the semifinals.
