The final-leg of the inaugural edition of the Indian Volley League rolled into the city, incidentally the hometown of IVL chairman V. Ravikanth Reddy, former international and Arjuna Awardee, who asserts that the League is just the beginning of many efforts to give a new dimension to the sport in India. “For long, we have been thinking of giving back something to the sport in a manner which no one earlier attempted,” says Ravikanth. “I sincerely believe the IVL is a big success though we would have loved to see many more corporates join us for more teams. But all is not lost for us. The success story of the first edition (now on in the city) will surely lure many more in future,” he explains. Ravikanth heads a team of dedicated players-turned officials like Raj Kumar. “Yes, I am fortunate to have such a committed and untiring team,” he says. “Being players, they always knew what is required in a given situation and more importantly what the players look for in the League. It is sheer team work which is largely responsible for making this League such a big success,” says Ravikanth.
“We are proud to join the 24-member countries elite group in the world which conducts the professional volleyball league. And I assure the volleyball fraternity that we will continue to come up with many events which will take the sport in India to a new level,” adds Ravikanth.
G.E. Sridharan, IVL coordinator, lauded the efforts of the Hyderabadi even while pointing that there is no adequate rest between the different ‘legs' of the inaugural IVL but promised to take care of this aspect in the next edition. “We have decided to host the next IVL in October-November and it will be played over 45 to 50 days,” he informs. “We will also try to adopt a different procedure in picking the teams unlike the draw of lots which was done for the inaugural championship.” “The IVL is part of the Volleyball Federation of India's calendar and is one of the important selection tournaments to pick the national teams for various international events,” Sridharan remarked. “We have already identified 24 players from the IVL and also from the national championships to be given long-term training and they will be in the national camps,” he observed. “For this reason, we have included some of the Junior World Cup players in the different IVL teams to give them the desired exposure and experience by playing along with the seniors,” he concluded.
