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Volleyball
By M.C. Raman
This is undoubtedly the greatest moment in the history of Indian volleyball because no national team has been in the first eight positions in world ranking in a sport in which 217 countries show an active interest. India's success story here has been a strange one. The coaches of Brazil, Czech Republic, Poland and a few others admitted that they had not known India's strength because they did not see this team in any tournament around the world. So it came as a big surprise when this Asian No. 1 team threatened the hegemony of the European outfits in the company of another Asian nation, Iran. Look at the irony. Three Asian teams have topped their respective groups - India, Iran and Australia. The only European team to do so was Russia, the European champion, which was thrashed by Iran in the last championship semifinal in three straight sets. On Monday, Indian coach G.E. Sridharan was under the impression that his team would run into Iran. But the organisers had announced a draw of lots which immensely favoured India. Now India takes on Australia and Russia meets Iran to decide their positions for the quarterfinal line-up. Those who have finished two and three in the groups have to fight it out and earn a place in the quarterfinals against the toppers. The other line-ups are Puerto Rico v Egypt, Netherlands v Czech Republic, Brazil v Italy and China v Thailand. As India has already played Brazil and Czech Republic it need not meet these teams again. It means India may run into either China or Egypt. So if the Indian team maintains the same form and show the same self-confidence they should be in the semifinals and be the top four in the world. Still, the European teams are strong, physically as well as in power. For them beating each other in the European and World championship is a prestige as the Czech coach said in an interview. He felt his team's loss to India did not affect the team, but their victory over Europe's No. 2 Poland was a tremendous boost. Venezuela, Poland, Morocco and Slovakia have already been eliminated. Now onwards it is going to be a battle royale and the teams need luck. Three wins on a trot was amazing. "In international tournaments it is the performance that counts. Yesterday they gave me the first seat in the front row for the draws. This is the first time I am experiencing this honour as the Indian coach. We will take on anybody because we have nothing to lose and everything to gain now. So the boys are raring to go'' said the Indian coach. So far the Indian team was made up of Rathish, setter Kamaraj, Srikanth, Sanjay Kumar, Dinesh Kumar, Vikas Tomar and libero Kulwant. There was no need for experimentation as they showed an excellent understanding. But against teams like Netherlands, Russia and China he may need tall blockers like Pradeep or Ginson Varghese. The Indian team has never been under serious pressure but it may not be smooth in the next phase.
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