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Khel Vikas Kankia Academy senior boys’ volleyball team showed strong character during their 2-1 loss to an experienced team and zonal favorites, MKCG medical college from Berhampur, Orissa on 11th July as part of their pre-season practice.
First Set
At the start of the first set, the Kankia boys’ gained a quick 4-0 lead with a couple of brilliant service aces from Purnachandra. As the set progressed, both the teams played a point for point thriller until the medical college team called a timeout to regroup themselves. The timeout helped them take a lead of 20-18, albeit for a short while as the Kankia boys came up with solid back to back blocks to level it.
In the final stages, the Kankia boys’ stepped up and played well beyond their limits against the highly acclaimed medical college team. They took the first set with a well placed service from Karun followed by a quick attack from both hitters Niranjan and Ravi to finish at 25-22.
Second Set
Entering the second set, the medical college team came back strong with some early floor-stomping hits leaving the Kankia boys’ clueless. But it was the turn of Susanta, captain of the Kankia team, to cheer up the boys by delivering precise defence when it mattered the most, giving the team much required energy to get back in the game as well as helping setter Juel to lay the foundation for the attack. After both the teams had exchanged the lead a couple of times during the game, it was yet another point for point thriller in the final stages of the game where the Kankia boys went down fighting, losing the set 24-26.
After the narrow loss in the second set, the Kankia boys found their rhythm very late in the decisive third set, which saw them losing the set 22-25 and the match.
Kankia boys showed character despite loss
Despite losing the match by such a close margin, the Kankia boys showed unrivalled energy and determination throughout the match, which saw them being applauded by the medical college team in the end for their strong performance .Kankia team coach Razzak, a national player himself, is quite happy with the progress boys have shown in the past three months, and is optimistic about the teams’ performance in the approaching competitions.
The boys have already started thinking of the next practice match and were quoted as saying “The narrow loss has given us motivation to train even harder and perform better in the next meeting”. This marks the beginning of a series of practice matches for the boys as part of their preparation for the upcoming school district and state championships.
Pro Sport Development’s initiative
Pro Sport Development has come up with these pre-season practice matches against highly ranked neighboring teams in order to mentally strengthen the boys as well as give them first hand experience of playing competitive matches regularly. Additionally, Pro Sport Development has provided the support of strength & conditioning coaches along with making necessary changes to the dietary requirements of the team.
The performance of the boys has assured Pro Sport Development and the School management to look forward to a promising competitive season.
