April's Beach Volleyball Log

Beach Volleyball athletes in India being encouraged to play

Volleyball tourney inaugurated Tuesday November 13 2007 10:42 IST Express News Service

Window2India: Sports News

MANGALORE: It had become customary that people in the nation discourage athletes from adopting sports as career, said NITK Surathkal director Sandeep Sancheti.

Sancheti was addressing the gathering after inaugurating a Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) sponsored Volleyball tournament-2007 hosted by the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) at the MRPL School Grounds near here on Monday.

He said that sports should be an integral part of one’s life. People should inculcate the habit of encouraging athletes, he added.

He said; “sports can never spoil anybody’s life, whereas, it can lead one to earn instant name, fame and money” and added that success in sports would give lot of thrill, energy and freshness which is the mantra for fitness.

Beach volleyball tournament

Sancheti informed that NITK Surathkal would be organising a national-level NIT beach volleyball tournament at Surathkal beach shortly. MRPL managing director R Rajamani, PSPB joint secretary V K Bawa, MRPL assistant vice-president (HR) S S Hegde and deputy general manager H C Sathyanarayan were present.

Click Beach Volleyball in India to read more

Sign up for the FREE Volleyball Voices Newsletter Subscription Drive.

Don't Miss Out! Sign UP Now!

Women's beach volleyball comes to India

By Azera Rahman. Delhi, India, 09:31 AM IST

Svelte figures running on the beach, toned arms tossing the ball in the air and hitting with all their might. Women's beach volleyball, till now enjoyed in India as just a vicarious sport on TV, is soon to be launched the country as a sporting activity.

Volleigirl, a concept more popularly known as women's beach volleyball, is the brainchild of Beyond Thought Marketing Solutions Pvt Ltd (BTMS), which aims at introducing this Olympic sport to young Indian women here as a career sport.

Mohak Gupta, director of BTMS, said he has brought the sport in India with a big vision.

'The vision is for the young Indian eve to face the world on her own terms and take up this fast growing Olympic sport and make a splendid career out of it.

'The vision is the creation of India's women's beach volleyball team which will represent the country in the 2016 Olympics,' Gupta told IANS.

Shrugging off doubts on whether the sport will make a mark in India, Gupta said he has every reason to believe that it will be a successful venture.

To begin with, Gupta doesn't think the sport will be hindered by the fact that India doesn't have as many beaches as other countries where this sport is popular.

'Well, the Indian coastline is over 7,000 km long. So there is no shortage of playing area. Additionally, this game is increasingly being played in land-locked cities as well. All you need is to follow the specifications of laying down a court, if you want to play professionally and a net and a ball. And you are ready to play!' Gupta said enthusiastically.

Irvin Soares, chairman of the Volleyball Federation of India's (VFI) beach committee - the game's apex body in the country - similarly feels that the sport has immense otential.

Click Women's beach volleyball comes to India to read more.

Sign up for the FREE Volleyball Voices Newsletter Subscription Drive.

Don't Miss Out! Sign UP Now!

Change Your Life...Change Your Life Story

Women's Beach Volleyball in India Growing in Popularity

As reported by the Indian site Business-Standard.com females are being trained to play beach volleyball despite the skimpy athletic attire.

Hit that ball, seriously
Aabhas Sharma / New Delhi July 29, 2007
Beach volleyball, once seen as a leisure sport, is now being promoted in earnest.

Beach volleyball in India has been on the fringes of the sporting world. It is looked at as a leisure sport more than anything else. In fact, forget beach volleyball, India as a nation is yet to establish more than decent credentials in the plain vanilla version of the game.

But yet, the seeds for growing this leisure sport have been sown and the people behind it are confident that the game will become popular. Says Mohak Gupta, director, Beyond Thought, who has put his money where his mouth is and is trying to make this sport big here, “It might sound like it’s an ambitious plan but we are confident that we will be able to pull it off successfully.”

With the backing of the Volleyball Federation of India (VFI), the game is set to take off in the next few months. Gupta says that beach volleyball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world and probably one of the most viewed as well.

One problem area that may hinder this sport’s growth in India is the skimpy attire that is associated with it. After all, tennis player Sania Mirza was targetted by an orthodox section of society for wearing shorts and mini skirts, clothes that are a lot less revealing than what is required for beach volleyball.

“I don’t think that should be an issue out here. We are looking to promote the sport as a viable career option as well,” adds Gupta.

The VFI will hold state-level selections for girls between the ages of 16 and 25 as per selection norms that have been set by them, and will shortlist 100 girls for further tests.

Click Volleyball Voices to read more.

!f you enjoyed this post then Subscribe to the free Volleyball Voices Newsletter!