"If we get India camp and regular international matches then our level will go up" - Indian volleyball player Amit Gulia

Amit Gulia is among the most promising talents in the Indian volleyball ecosystem. He started his journey in 2007 in his hostel where he honed his skills under coach Adan Singh. Being blessed with a height of 6’3, the boy from Haryana’s Jhajjar district was convinced about his potential in the six-member team sport.

Amit hogged the spotlight for the first time in 2019 when he led the India U-23 team to a silver medal at the Asian Men’s U23 Volleyball Championship in Myanmar. With Indian volleyball’s upward trajectory over the years, the Haryana spiker has been a vital cog on the attacking field along with Vinit Kumar.

Amit was part of India’s best-ever Asian Games campaign in Hangzhou, China, last year as the team finished sixth, having inflicted a massive upset on South Korea 3-2. South Korea was the silver medalist in the previous edition of the continental tournament in Jakarta, and India’s victory against them speaks about the volume of their achievement.

Amit, who plays as an outside hitter, participated in the Men’s Volleyball Club World Championship held in Bengaluru in December last year. He represented Ahmedabad Defenders in the six-team event, though he regularly dons the Mumbai Meteors.

Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda on the sidelines of the Prime Volleyball League season 3, 25-year-old Amit Gulia said:

“I got the opportunity to play for the World Championship, I feel grateful for that as I got to play with the world-class players. When you compete with a better player than yourself, your level automatically goes up. The Indian team's performance was good in the Asian Games. Our efforts are there to take the Indian team to the highest level.”

The Indian spiker feels the team needs more exposure at the international level, citing how players play very few tournaments in a calendar year.

"I believe that talent-wise there is no dearth in India, we don't lack in terms of standard height," he continued. "India also has power-hitters in respect to attacking sense. The thing we are lacking is players don't get enough international exposure.

“If you take hockey or other sports for example, they have national camps throughout the year regardless of their tournament schedule. If volleyball (team) gets training for India camp and regular international matches then our level will go up.”

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Amit Gulia welcomes new format in Prime Volleyball

Amit has played an important role in Mumbai’s qualification for the Super5s, a format introduced in the PVL for the first time this year. With 75 points in nine games, the Indian spiker is placed fifth, thus far, among the top attackers of PVL season 3.

While emphasising the advantage of the new format of the PVL, where the top five teams will once again compete in a Super5 stage after the conclusion of the round-robin format (nine teams participate here), the Mumbai star spiker said:

“What used to happen before, that a team would win three sets and then also they had to play two more sets further. The ones seeing the game from outside felt the match is over then also its going on. In this, the player's morale would go down that we have already won the match then why are we playing ahead. It's better to see the game finish in three sets.”

In June 2022, Amit suffered a ligament tear in his ankle, which led to surgery followed by a six-month bed rest before he returned to action in the PVL season 2 last year. He lauded the efforts of the Prime Volleyball organisers for creating a platform for the Indian players to rub shoulders with some of the best names outside the country.

“The league has an important role to play because the lighting and public support you get here, you can't find the same at international level. It becomes easy for a player who performs well in the league, it becomes easy for him to adapt to the pressure in big tournaments,” he said.

The first edition of the PVL was completely staged in Hyderabad at the Gachibowli Stadium. Hyderabad hosted the second edition along with Bengaluru and Kochi, while the current season is currently held in Chennai completely.

While the following for the sport in South India is tremendous, Amit believes his region also has a similar love for volleyball. He said:

“I am from North India, but Volleyball is famous in South India, I agree. They should take this to more venues (in different cities) so more people will come. In north, many people follow and like volleyball. It's famous there as well.”

The final of PVL 2024 will be played on March 21, with the winners of Super5s and the winner of the eliminator will play in the summit clash.