Beach volleyball poised to make a splash

India will soon boast of a women volleyball team competing in international matches and popularising the sport in the country.

The glamorous sport of beach volleyball, said to be one of the fastest growing international sports is set to get a fillip in India with a private company aiming to popularise the game among women.

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The company says it will derive technical support and guidance from the Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) who will oversee the process of coaching girls drawn from volleyball teams across the country.

The game is still in its infancy in the country but officials say that it is poised for growth and there is immense potential ready to be tapped.

"The recent Asian Beach Volleyball Games held at Hyderabad was very successful," says K Murugan of the Volleyball Federation of India, Chennai.

Beach Volleyball is a participatory sport in the Olympics but still does not figure in the Commonwealth Games even though a number of member countries including US, Australia, Brazil, England among others play it.

"With just a net and some sand, playing the sport by itself is not very expensive," says Mohit Gupta of Beyond Thought Marketing Solutions Pvt Ltd, which has conceived the concept of 'Volleigirl,' a body of women athletes who will be trained for a professional career in beach volleyball.

Under the selection process beginning next month, around 100 girls would be shortlisted from college volleyball teams in states including Delhi, Haryana, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Punjab.