Holders Railways, Maharashtra impress in Federation Cup

Mumbai, May 7 (UNI) Holders Indian Railways and hosts Maharashtra impressed in their opening matches in the 27th Federation Cup Kabaddi Tournament, at Shivaji Park here.

The men's team from Railways overran Bharat Sanchar Nihgam Ltd 49-21, while the women proved to be too superior for Karnataka whom they crushed 62-28.

For hosts Maharashtra, Chandigarh and Orissa proved to be cannon fodders in the men's and women's section respectively. Maharashtra led by world cupper Shailesh Sawant and India skipper Pankaj Shirsat started in whirlwind fashion and ended the contest, at 52-18. The women were more merciless in their 62-9 annhilation of Orissa.

Skipper Trupti Suvarna and Gauri Wadekar raided the rival territory at will to garner point after point and establish their supremacy (27-5) at the break.

Indian Railways were helped by raiders Deepchand and Ganashekharan and catchers Joginder Singh and Suresh Kumar in their victory over BSNL for whom world cupper Navneet Gautam proved to be the lone fighter. The second half saw Railways chug along with BSNL throwing in the towel.

In the absence of international and skipper Lata Panchal, the Railway women had enough strength to easily sweep aside Karnataka.

The lanky Tejaswini and Mamta raided effectively for the holders and equally impressive were Archana Shinde and Meghali Korgaonkar in defending their territory. It was only because of Jayanti and Madhushri that Karnataka's presence was felt.

Services, who are strong contenders for the title, subdued Uttar Pradesh 37-26 in a calculated manner. Navin Kumar and Jasbir excelled in raiding for Services. UP did try to stage a fight but the 16-29 deficit was huge to bridge. They outscored Services 10-8 after the break but the result was never in doubt.

UNI