Kerala did not have to expect much in the whole of the match and it somewhat affected their game before meeting the experienced Railway team in the crucial match to decide the title on the last day. Unlike in the previous day team captain and Jacob and Sujatha did not rise to the expectations and it was left to young Viny Thomas and the lanky Shiji Kurien to wage the battle on behalf of the hosts.

Coach Raghavan under whose training the girls triumphed at the Manipur National Games has a tough job in hand before his team meets Railways on Sunday.

The ankle-twist to Delhi's international Kiran Pal Rana during the course of the first set was a big setback to the team and the hosts availed of his absence to hilt last night. Much of Kerala's attacks were led by TomJoseh the tallest player of the side, just out of his teens. Kerala won in straight sets, 25-20, 25-17, 25-18.

Coach Sunny Joseh experimented almost all on the bench and all newcomer to the side, Kishore Kuma, libero C Sajeev, Ismail and Sunilkumar, were in good form. Setter Kapil Dev, who led Indian juniors last year, timed his boosts well which helped Tom and Sunil execute some well controlled strikes to the back row.

For Delhi, besides internaitonal setter Arun Sharma, Gagan Sagar was good in patches. For the losers it was their second defeat in as many matches.Later, Punjab scored their third consecutive win defeating Delhi 25-18, 5-22, 25-16.