Date:23/10/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/10/23/stories/2002102302601900.htm

Sport - Volleyball

New rules bring more passion into game

By Our Special Correspondent

Chennai Oct. 22 The three major changes introduced by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) in the last three or four years have brought more passion into the game, according to the survey conducted during the men's World volleyball championship, held in Argentina recently.

Brazil won the championship, beating Russia in the final. And a statistical company wanted to find out the real impact of the three major changes in the FIVB rules - 1. Net touch is allowed during service, 2. 25 points are required to win a set and every serve will lead to a point for either side 3. Introduction of a Libero.

According to the study, the impact of these changes was visible during the championship in Argentina and this study showed a changing trend in the approach of the leading countries.

Teams that were competing in the 2000 Sydney Olympics tended to play the old style of game where the top teams concentrated on regaining the service and waited for the opponent to make mistakes. But in Argentina the leading outfits were quite aggressive in serve, defence and attack. A lot more energy was used in scoring points while the team was serving. That could be the reason for high-level competitiveness in Argentina.

Ten years ago the highest speed of jump serve was about 105 km/h. But now serves of over 120 km/h are not exceptional. It is expected that the speed can go up to 130/135 in a few years time.

The result of all this was that seven out of eight quarter-finalists at the Argentina World championship were countries well known for the emotions and the passion with which they indulge in the sport (the only exception is Russia).

The other quarter-finalists were — Brazil, France, Yugoslavia, Italy, Argentina, Greece and Portugal.

The rule changes have also produced a sport better packaged for TV and this time the men's World meet was shown in 170 countries — a phenomenal growth for the sport in visual media coverage.

Another important development during the World League Council meeting held at Lausanne last week was the Presidents of French and Portuguese National Federations mooted a `Latin Cup' for volleyball players under 1.85 m for men and under 1.75 m for women.

During the last FIVB Congress, 217 affiliated Federation officials whole-heartedly supported a World championship for players who are less than 2m — as the majority of the world population belongs to this category.

Indonesia has come forward to host the first World championship for players below 2m in Jakarta in 2005.