Indian Volleyball Players

 Indian Volleyball Players have made their nation proud in various occasions. The basic rules of Volleyball in India mention that one team scores point if they throw the ball into the opponent's court and the opponents fail to throw it back; and can also gain point if any fault is made by the opponent team. The team that scores 25 points first wins the set, and in a 5 setter, the team winning 3 sets also wins the match. 

The game of volleyball is more than 100 years old and said to have been originated in USA. It is played all over the world, and the popularity is immense. Today there are more than 800 million players worldwide who play Volleyball at least once a week. 

The popularity of volleyball in India made it the only game to make a stable place in the South Asian Federation Games (SAF) in 1987 in Kolkata. In the year 1991, the Indian Volleyball team regained its gold medal in Colombo games. The Indian Women Volleyball team distinguished itself in the 1993 SAF games in Dhaka, although it is yet to make a mark in the Asian games. Indian volleyball witnessed its best in the year 2003, when the Indian team won an Asian Games title at the Rajiv Gandhi Port indoor stadium in Vishakhapatnam. The Indian junior team also qualified for the World Championship at the end of the year 2002. It won the Asian Games in Iran in 2010. 

Volleyball players in India have won the prestigious Arjun Awards for the game, and some of them are Palaniswamy (1961), Nrijit Singh (1962), Balwant Singh (1972), G Malini Reddy (1973), Shyamsundar Rao (1974), Ranvir Singh and K. C Elamma (1975), Jimmy George (1976) and many others. Jimmy George one of India's foremost Volleyball players, was regarded as one of the ten best players in the world. 

Karunakarakurup Udayakumar, Indian Volleyball Player

Balwant Singh Sagwal, born in the village of Kaul, was an Indian volleyball player. His immense contribution in this sporting field earned him Arjuna Award.
Karunakarakurup Udayakumar was an Indian Volleyball Player and a known face in the sports arena of India. He was known for his skills in volleyball. He is often known as all rounder in Volleyball. He was the known name in volleyball, when volleyball in India reached at its height. 

Early Life of Karunakarakurup Udayakumar 
Karunakarakurup Udayakumar was born in the year 1960, at the coastal village of Mararikulam. This village is known for its famous Marari beach, in Alappuzha district of Kerala. His father's name was Parambil Vettil Karanakarakurup and Ammani Amma. Karunakarakurup Udayakumar started playing volleyball from an early age, beginning his career at Kalavur Sixes, a small local club in the locality. 

Later, Karunakarakurup Udayakumar played for another local club, Mac, where his talents were first noticed by the public. After the schooling at a local school, Karunakarakurup Udayakumar joined St. Michael’s College, Cherthalla and was soon inducted to the college team. 

The performances of Karunakarakurup Udayakumar helped him to gain a berth in the State junior volleyball team which participated in the National Rural Games at Kolhapure, in the year 1976 and again, in 1978, at the Patiala junior nationals. 

Karunakarakurup Udayakumar was soon made the captain of the Kerala Junior Team which was followed by an entry into the Indian national junior volleyball team which participated in the 1980 Asian Junior Volleyball Championships. In the year 1981, he was selected for the Indian Youth team for the World Youth Volleyball championships at Colorado Springs, United States of America. He earned a national senior team berth in 1982, when India hosted the Asian Games at New Delhi. However in the year 1986, Udayakumar won the bronze medal at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, Korea. Three years later, Karunakarakurup Udayakumar became the captain of Indian Volleyball Team to silver medal at the 1989 SAF Games. Udayakumar represented India in the Asian Senior volleyball championships at Tokyo in the year 1983 and at Kuwait in 1987 and played for India in three SAF Games. Udayakumar was active in club level professional volleyball, too. Opening with Kerala State Electricity Board team, he played for Travancore Titanium, before joining Kerala Police team, in 1985, where he ended his club career. In between, he also played for a professional team in Qatar for a while. 

Later Career of Karunakarakurup Udaya Kumar 
After retirement as a player, Karunakarakurup Udayakumar coached Dubai Police Team and was also active at the organizational level. He was a member of the organising committee for the 2013 National Games held at Thiruvanathapuram in November - December 2013. After that, he joined with his club commitments. He also joined with Kerala State Electricity Board and a short stint at Travancore Titanium. He joined Kerala Police as a Deputy Superintendent of Police and rose in ranks to become the Aide de Camp to the Governor of Kerala. Karunakarakurup Udayakumar played for the Kerala Police Volleyball team in his early times. Karunakarakurup Udayakumar is the former captain of Indian National Volleyball Team. 

Awards of Karunakarakurup Udaya Kumar 
Karunakarakurup Udaya Kumar was the member of Indian Volleyball Team, including Jimmy George and Cyril C. Valloor. He won Bronze medal in the 1986 Asian Games held, which was held in Seoul. In 1991, Karunakarakurup Udaya Kumar was conferred the Arjuna Award, Indian highest prestigious award in sports for his contribution to the Indian volleyball. He was also a recipient of G. V. Raja Award, the highest Kerala State Government sports honour. The Government of India, in 1991, honoured his services to Indian volleyball by bestowing on him, the second highest Indian sports award, the Arjuna Award. 

Death of Karunakarakurup Udaya Kumar 
On September 19, 2014, Karunakarakurup Udaya Kumar suffered a cardiac arrest and died in Hospital. He was married to Lekha, a teacher at the Christ Nagar School, and the couple had two daughters, Anjali and Pallavi. 

Balwant Singh Sagwal, Indian Volleyball Player

Balwant Singh Sagwal was a prominent Indian volleyball player. Sagwal was affectionately called as Ballu and was considered a star of the India men's national volleyball team. During the mid-1960s and 1970s, this 6 feet 6 inches tall player was responsible for helping Punjab achieve national success. He is also termed as a world class attacker. Sagwal was honoured with Arjuna Award. His son Narender is also a professional Volleyball player. He plays for Indian volleyball Team. 

Early Life of Balwant Singh Sagwal 
He was born in the village of Kaul in the Kaithal district in the Haryana state of India. 

Career of Balwant Singh Sagwal 
Sagwal was from a modest background. He joined the Border Security Force (BSF) in Jalandhar, Punjab, which was notable for producing quality volleyball players at the time. 

In the year 1965, Sagwal played his first National Volleyball Championship and he continued to play in the Nationals till 1988. He played for India in Asian Games of 1970, 1974, and 1978. He also played test matches for India in 1970, 1978 and 1980. In the years between 1968 and 1981, Punjab won National Championships 10 times largely due to the performance of Sagwal. He also participated in the All India Police Games from 1966 to 1990 representing Punjab Police and BSF. 

Award of Balwant Singh Sagwal 
His excellent sportsmanship and contribution to the national team made him win the country's top sporting honour, the Arjuna Award in 1972. 

Legacy of Balwant Singh Sagwal 
Sagwal ran a volleyball academy in Kaul, and a stadium was named after him. He breathed his last on 14 November 2010. He was 65 year old. After his death, Kaul Village and his son Narender organised Balwant Singh Ballu Memorial tournament. 

Arikapudi Ramana Rao, Indian Volleyball Player

 
Arikapudi Ramana Rao is a former Indian Volleyball Player. He received Arjuna Award and Dronacharaya Award.

Arikapudi Ramana Rao is a former Indian Volleyball Player. He was born on 1st July 1945 in Chamallamudi village of Guntur district inAndhra Pradesh. Arikapudi Ramana Rao is also the receiver of both the Arjuna Award for the year 1977-1978 and Dronacharya Award for the year 1990-1991. 

Sports Career of Arikapudi Ramana Rao 
Arikapudi Ramana Rao started playing volleyball after joining the college. His college days gave him a scope to play volleyball. He graduated from Hindu College, Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh in the year 1966. 

From the year 1966 to 1976, Arikapudi Ramana Rao participated in the National Volleyball Championships. He was also the captain of Tamil Nadu Volleyball Team. He played as a Captain for consecutively four years. He played for the Tamil Nadu State team which won the NationalVolleyball Championship title for the first time at Tiruchirapalli in the year 1976. 

Arikapudi Ramana Rao was the Head Coach for the Indian men's volleyball team at the Asian Volleyball Championships at Perth in the year 1991. He was also the first Indian volleyball coach to qualify as FIVB Instructor in the German Democratic Republic in 1986 and went on to conduct the International Coaches Courses in India and abroad. He was nominated as a Member AVC Coaches Committee of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) from the year 1993-1997. 

Arikapudi Ramana Rao is listed as the Director of the FIVB Regional Development Centre of Chennai. Currently, Arikapudi Ramana Rao is the President of Andhra Pradesh Volleyball Association. Arikapudi Ramana Rao is the Chairman of Coaching Committee of Volleyball Federation of India (VFI). This is a non-private and non- governmental organisation responsible for monitoring the volleyball in India. Volleyball Federation of India was formed in the year 1951. Volleyball in India was controlled by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and at that time the Interstate Volleyball Championship was held every two years from 1936 to 1950 for men only. The first Championship was held in the year 1936 at Lahore. In 1951, Volleyball Federation of India was formed to regulate the guidelines and the administration related to volleyball. The first meeting of Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) was held in Ludhiana, which is now located in Punjab, India.