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Volleyball won't be a part of the upcoming National Games in Goa, scheduled to start on October 26. The six-member sport is reportedly said to be dropped from the annual event as the administrators run short of time.
The game of volleyball in the country is currently run by an ad-hoc committee, which was formed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) earlier this year. The Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) has been under suspension since December 2019 due to several reasons including perpetual 'infighting and proxy voting' (h/t TheBridge).
Former Indian player S. Gopinath, who is also a member of IOA's volleyball ad hoc committee, said they cannot name eight teams undisputedly. He believes it could give rise to potential legal trouble, telling Sportstar:
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"We are in a situation where we cannot recommend eight teams for the National Games without any dispute happening afterwards. We don’t have an undisputed criteria to qualify the teams. If we select eight teams, we should be able to defend it. That is the problem faced by the ad hoc committee."
The norms of IOA require the teams to qualify for the National Games based on the ranking of the last championship. However, the nationals last year were conducted by the unaccredited VFI, where Rajasthan and Kerala won the men's and women's events, respectively.
Right now, the priority for the ad-hoc committee is to conduct the VFI elections. They were given a deadline of 45 days by the Sports Ministry to complete the elections but now they seem to be in a rush.
A major dent to Volleyball's progress after Asian Games fame
The decision to oust volleyball from the 37th National Games comes as a blow to the sport, especially after the nation's display in China earlier this year.
The Indian men's volleyball team made giant strides in the 19th edition of the Asian Games with a sixth-place finish. The 73rd-ranked India shocked World No. 27 South Korea in a nail-biting 3-2 win in the preliminary round.
They also overcame another higher-ranked opponent in Chinese Taipei (World No. 43) 3-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. India lost to Japan by a similar margin in the last 8 and hence missed the opportunity to finish on the podium for the first time.
The women's team lost both their fixtures against DPR Korea and China in Pool A, though they got the better of Nepal, Mongolia, and Hong Kong to finish ninth in the classification.
