The Hindu : Sport / Volleyball : Chance for India to showcase talent

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 29, 2007
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Sport - Volleyball

Chance for India to showcase talent

S. Sabanayakan

KOLKATA: The fortunes of Indian volleyball are on the upswing of late. After having been demoted to the general category from the priority list of the Central government, the game will have no other option but to look up and things are moving in the right direction.

The decision to bring down volleyball from the elite list ought to have come as a shocker to the Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) which wasted no time in regrouping to regain lost ground. With earnest efforts coming from the mandarins of the federation, the Indian team sported a new look when it left for Islamabad for the Central Asian Zone championship and, as expected, took the top honours.

The infusion of young blood under new coach, G.E. Sridharan — an Arjuna awardee, reaped rich harvest and brought back a future full of hope and aspirations.

The gains from Islamabad could have been consolidated had the Indian team won the four-Test series against Pakistan. Instead the series was drawn.

These two tournaments enabled Indian volleyball to take a turn for the good with some of the seniors, out of the squad for failing to attend the National camp, showing a lot of urgency to return to the team.

Stalwarts return

Three seniors, K.J. Kapil Dev, Sanjay Kumar and Jitender Singh were inducted into the side for the second Commonwealth championship.

“Yes, the return of the three has enhanced the team’s strength and we are looking forward to the tournament,” said Sridharan.

Kapil Dev, who was named after the legendary former Indian cricket captain, has been the team’s setter with vision and variation. His experience is bound to be a huge plus for the side which is bubbling with youthful exuberance. Sanjay and Jitender will certainly lend tremendous support in both attack and block and the coach expects the younger lot to rally around the trio. Apart from them, the team has some exciting talent in captain P.S. Srikanth, G. Pradeep, Vibin M. George, Sube Singh, the two liberos R. Sivarajan and Kiran Philip and M. Ukkrapandian.

“Overall, a good showing here will shape a new future for the game in the country,” said A. Ramana Rao, a former coach.

The presence of volleyball superpowers like Australia and Canada will certainly enhance the rating of the tournament. Unfortunately, Canada, ranked 12th in the world, has brought a second string side because the country’s top side is busy with the Pan-Am Games. The team’s coach George Laplante said that the team in Kolkata was a mix of former players and untested youngsters. Yet, he promised a stiff fight to any side in the tournament. He rated Australia as the top side and added he had not seen an Indian side play recently to form an opinion.The championship was inaugurated at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Saturday after a smart march-past followed by a cultural programme. The matches will begin from Sunday with India playing Bangladesh in the opener.

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