Chastened Customs target strong comeback

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Three matches, three defeats. The ongoing Vollys Club state level volleyball tournament has been disastrous for Chennai Customs.

It was at the Vollys Club event three years ago — before the Coimbatore state championship — Customs laid down the marker by beating a strong Indian Overseas Bank. The tide seems to have turned now.

Customs were able to win only a solitary set in three matches in this year’s tournament. Even the presence of India’s no. 1 libero S. Kanagaraj and top-class attacker John Christopher failed to spark life into Customs’ campaign.

Tongues have already started wagging. Critics are having a go at Customs, saying the government team’s slide is irrevocable.

“When Customs went on a recruitment spree three years ago, many people doubted their ability to run a team competently.

Customs’ history of running sports teams wasn’t inspiring. In addition, their recruitment policy was always flawed. They would give jobs to a handful all of a sudden only to stall the process for many years.

Those who get absorbed through sports quota wouldn’t be able to focus on their craft because of office workload,” one person with a deep knowledge of the way Customs function said.

Customs volleyball coach S. Irudayarajan said his team would prove the doubters wrong. “The obituaries on our team are premature.

There is no doubt that our performance was poor at the Vollys tournament but that doesn’t mean the end of the road. We will come back stronger. There is no question of abandoning the volleyball team,” he added.

According to Rajan, the sports policies of a central government department like Customs are different. “You can’t compare us with nationalised banks. Our commissioner is a keen sports lover.

She has promised her total support for all our teams. With her backing, I’m confident that we will reach a position of strength,” he said.

The Customs coach pointed out that his team missed setter J. Thennarasan at the Vollys tournament. “He is down with typhoid.

His absence was a big blow, as we didn’t have a second setter in our squad. Finally, we roped in a guest player from Puducherry in place of Thennarasan, to avoid pulling out of the event. P. Sivabalan, the most experienced player in our team, also couldn’t play a part because of injury.

Universal K.P. Shaheem is recuperating after a surgery. When the three important players regain their fitness, I’m sure we will be a force to be reckoned with in Tamil Nadu,” he said.

The departure of Balwinder Singh to Income Tax had rendered Customs a setter short. If Thennarasan doesn’t recover in time for next week’s inter-revenue sub-zone meet, Customs will be in big trouble. Recruitment of a setter at once is critical for the success of the team in the long run.

“I hope our commissioner will help us in this regard. Playing with one setter is risky. We can’t enter a guest player in an inter-revenue meet in case of injury to our setter,” he said.

Rajan, who was appointed chief coach after the retirement of Asokan, said his team had been found wanting in blocking at the Vollys event.

“We had a team meeting on Thursday morning and analysed our performance. There was consensus that our blocking needed to improve a lot. Our focus would be on the crucial area in forthcoming events,” he added.

Customs start their comeback trail from the inter-revenue meet on Monday.