Chennai: Southern Railway tumbled Central Railway (Mumbai) with a convincing straight-game win to bag the women's title and the Panimalar Trophy in the Panimalar P. John Memorial all-India volleyball tournament on Sunday. Southern won 25-22, 25-15, 25-22.

Right from the start, Southern had a handy lead and except once in the first game when Central restored parity (21 all), there was no stopping the former.

When Central lost the first game, the team's collective form dipped and this was manifest in the way Southern raised a good lead in the second.

At 19-12 Southern chugged along and nothing mirrored the rival's frustration more than the way its best player Priyanka Bora sent a serve right into the net. Some give-aways from Southern brought momentary hope for Central in the decider but except for the 2-1 lead in the opening stage, the trend did not change even if points went neck and neck.

Sowmya was particularly sharp in angling her spikes and Gayathri repeatedly caught the rival blockers on the wrong-foot with her clever placings.

Earlier for the third place, KSEB (Thiruvanthapuram) defeated Western Railway (Mumbai) 19-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-21.

S. Machendra Nathan, Additional Secretary and financial advisor, Ministry of Steel, gave away the trophies, while C. Sakthikumr, Director, Panimalar EC presided. The winner took home Rs. 50,000, while the runner-up Rs. 40,000.