The Hindu : Sport / Volleyball : Sridharan pins hopes on a medal

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Thursday, Jul 26, 2007
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Sridharan pins hopes on a medal

Special Correspondent

The team has worked hard to iron out weak spots
Faith in a well-knit youth outfit had paid rich dividends

BANGALORE: The Indian volleyball coach G.E. Sridharan was in an upbeat mood on Wednesday as the team wound up its training session at SAI (South) Centre in Kengeri and made its way for a kit presentation ceremony organised by the Karnataka Volleyball Association at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in down town Bangalore.

The coach said that his team would aim for a medal at the Commonwealth Championship, which kicks off at Kolkata on July 29.

In a chat with The Hindu, Sridharan said: “I really don’t know the hue of medal at this stage, but it should definitely be a medal and that’s what I told the boys.”

Sridharan’s optimism was fuelled by the triumph at Islamabad in the Central Asian Championship. Since its return, the team has worked hard at SAI to iron out discernible weak spots.

Turning point

“The victory at Islamabad was indeed a turning point in our swing after we hit a low in the Asian Games at Doha last year,” said the coach. The Volleyball Federation of India’s faith in a well-knit youth outfit had paid rich dividends.

To bolster the young bunch, a sprinkling of senior stars such as Sanjay Kumar, Kapil Dev and Jitender have been included. “It adds little more weight to the team as their experience will really count,” said Sridharan.

The camp at SAI also saw the team fine tune its defences. “Blocking and serving were the two areas we worked on besides speed and agility. Overall, the boys are fit and are looking forward to the challenge at Kolkata,” said Sridharan.

Difficult task

India, which is in Group ‘A’ along with Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nigeria, certainly has its task cut out.

“Aussies are the main threat, along with Canada in this championship. We have played Pakistan and we should be able to figure them out and another team I am a bit wary of is South Africa, I understand they are a good outfit, though we have not played them,” said Sridharan.

The team after the Commonwealth Championship plays a Test Series against Pakistan at Vishakapatnam (August 8), Chennai (Aug.10), Coimbatore (Aug.10) and Hyderabad (Aug.12 ), and later gets back to the camp for the Asian Championship slated in September, which will be the last international event.

In 2008, India will slug it out in the pre-olympic qualifying tournaments.

A veteran

A battle hardened veteran, Sridharan is philosophical about the game.

“We have seen a lot of ups and downs, from the high of 2004 and 2005 to a mediocre 2006 and a promising 2007.

“It is like climbing on a rope, you go up a bit and slip a bit and what we want to do is get our grip right and really move up.”

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