Lack of game time hurting Indian volleyball players

CHENNAI: Members of the Indian volleyball community struggle to recall when the men’s national team was last seen in competitive action. India finished a creditable sixth at the Hangzhou Asian Games two years ago, but since then there has hardly been any international exposure for the team.

There is also no clarity on which tournament they will take part in after the CAVA Nations League, scheduled in Fergana, Uzbekistan, from Thursday. Volleyball is currently run by the Indian Olympic Association-formed ad-hoc committee and the players have been left in the dark about the future.

That is why the spikers, with an eye on next year’s Asian Games, are treating the Nations League as an event with “immense importance”. India have been pitted along with Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in Pool A of the seven-team tournament.

“The Indian government approved our participation. Despite the challenges, we have to show everyone that we are good enough for this level. Only if we win a medal will we receive more support in the lead-up to the Asian Games. We are hopeful of going on exposure tours in the coming months,” setter A Muthusamy, a key component of the 14-member squad, told TOI from Uzbekistan.

Experienced attacker Jerome Vinith, who is back in the national fold, stressed on the importance of competing in tournaments regularly.

“Many are wondering why India’s ranking has dropped over the past two years (India’s name does not feature in the latest FIVB list). It is simple; we do not play in events consistently. When we are in such a situation, events like this will help us understand where we stand as we work towards the Asian Games. The tournament will give us an idea about the current standard of some of the other teams in the continent,” said the 32-year-old Vinith.

Although the players got no game time at the international level recently, they are optimistic about beating the odds with a good show.

“In terms of coordination, it was challenging at the start of the pre-tournament camp. But we have not been facing any difficulty since then. Playing under a foreign coach (Dragan Mihailovic) has given me a new perspective. We do not have a weak link in the squad, so we should be able to manage,” said Muthusamy while exuding confidence. “I do not think it will be difficult to gel well on court. Setter is the one who holds the team together. One of our setters (Muthusamy) has played with most of them in the squad,” said Vinith.

The general consensus is that the players’ job will become much easier if normalcy is restored in the Volleyball Federation of India, whose elections have long been pending.