PANAJI
On a day when actual competition kicked off with matches in Badminton commencing, another sport made its exit from the Goa-hosted 37th edition of the National Games, touted India's 'Olympics'.
Volleyball has been scratched out from the Games apparently for lack of 'participation' as the ad-hoc committee currently managing the Federation unable to identify (select) the top eight teams which will participate.
Volleyball's apex body in the country -- Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) -- has been suspended since December 2019 for a host of reasons not excluding the intra-rivalries and administrative irregularities.
In the interim, the affairs of the federation are being managed by an ad hoc committee set up by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as a temporary measure.
Sources said, the ad-hoc committee could not come to a consensus on the criteria to be adopted to select the top eight States.
In fact, online sports portal of SportsStar quoted former volleyball international and member of the adhoc committee S Gopinath as saying: “We are in a situation where we cannot recommend eight teams for the National Games without any dispute happening afterward. We don’t have 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 adhoc committee.”
Games Technical Commission Chairman Amitabh Sharma, however, said, “there are still conversations going on how to handle the issue”.
“The point is to give a fair chance of participation. It’s not just to rush in with a sport. We have been trying to resolve the situation and are still working on it”, he added.
The National Games features the country's top eight State teams which are selected, according to the IOA set rules, based on performance and ranking in the Senior National Championship in that particular discipline.
With VFI suspended their national ranking is invalid and the adhoc committee did not have the time to hold a tournament to determine fresh rankings, with preparations and participation in the Asian Games in China more important.
In the 36th edition of the National Games held in Gujarat last year, Kerala had emerged champions in both the women's and men's volleyball competition.
