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A tall story

Vigorous practice and grit has enabled Pradeep to walk tall, says J. R.Shridharan

PHOTO: RAJU. V.

SCALING NEW HEIGHTS Pradeep is busy setting his priorities right

When G. Pradeep was in V.P. Siddhartha Public School at Vijayawada, everyone, including his teachers, had to crane their necks to talk to him for he measured over six feet. Taking advantage of his tall personality, Pradeepdabbled in several games for sheer fun. His height, however, caught the attention of the school's physical director Ram Mohan Onthe advice of Ram Mohan and former Indian coach and Dronacharya awardee A. Ramana Rao, he zeroed in on volleyball and pursued the game with great passion and determination. His hard work and commitment paid rich dividends, as he formed the fulcrum of Indian attack.

The 22-year-old youngster, who works as a senior clerk in South Central Railway, Secunderabad, carved out a niche for himself in just six years by representing Andhra Pradesh in several national tournaments and India in many international fixtures.

Foreign tours

This centre blocker-cum-spiker, with an impressive height of 6ft 4 inches, is currently in the national camp training at SAI Centre in Bangalore for the prestigious Doha Asian Games 2006.

The youngster has played in Iran, Thailand, France, Pakistan, Dubai, Italy, Algeria and Kazakhstan and has skippered Indian youth and junior teams too. "I also won the best player awards a couple of times. I was adjudged the best blocker in the invitation cup fixture held at Kazakhstan last month," says Pradeep with a sense of pride.

In his formative years, trainers like former Indian coach Syam Sundar Rao, A. Ramana Rao, Mohan Kumar and Koteswara Rao fine-tuned his raw talent to mould him into an international spiker. "My stay at volleyball academy in Visakhapatnam changed my entire outlook towards the game. Thanks to Mr. Syam Sundar, I set my priorities right and began to focus on improving my skills to match international standards," quips Pradeep.

Many feathers in the cap

Sharing his experiences, Pradeep says height plays a crucial role in the modern volleyball. "Modern volleyball is fast turning into a spectator-savvy game with attack as its main ingredient.

There is no room for short players. Compared to Indian spikers, players from European countries are more tall and sturdy," he points out. Pradeep has captained India in the 9th Youth World Cup held at Algeria in September 2005, in the 5th Asian Youth Boys' tournament at Iran in May 2005, where he won the man of the tournament award.

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