Coming from the city which doesn’t boast of a beach, these spikers from Telangana training at the dusty GHMC playground in Musheerabad, beating traffic and pollution from the streets, have once again proved their worth at the Senior Beach National Volleyball Championship in Puducherry held last weekend. They won silver in the men’s and women’s category.
With training from experienced coaches Anwar Khaliq and Jameeluddin, the team outsmarted a string of strong teams to rekindle memories of the glorious past when the united Andhra Pradesh volleyball teams were a force to reckon with.
The Telangana men’s team, comprising Chaitanya and Mahesh, got the better of the the Tamil Nadu combination of Mohan and Sivabalan in the quarterfinals, then outplayed the in-form Goa in the semifinal.
In the women’s category, Telangana 1 team, comprising Rajitha and K. Lavanya, had a great run winning against all the teams in the group, and then defeating Delhi 2 in the quarterfinals and Goa 1 in the semifinal.
Even the Telangana 2 team of Lalitha Devi and M. Shruthi put up a good show before bowing out in the pre-quarterfinals.
“This is a wonderful result given the fact that we are in the process of reviving the sport in a big way after a low phase it had had due to many reasons,” said Manoj Reddy, secretary of the Telangana Volleyball Association, who was himself a member of the formidable A.P. team.
“Yes, the sport needs much bigger support on all fronts. Essentially, we have to ensure that more youth show interest in it like in the 1980s and the 1990s. The onus is on the government too, which can give the players incentives and jobs. It would otherwise be extremely difficult to keep producing quality players,” Mr. Reddy said.
