Missing teams fail to dampen international beach volleyball meet

Bhubaneswar: Far away from any sea beach, the Dutee Chand Athletics Stadium here at KIIT has transformed into a vibrant venue for the FIVB Beach Pro Tour Challenge, complete with numerous sand courts — four competition courts and two more for warm-up sessions.
But even as action continued on the third day of the competition, what was missing was about 25 teams from various countries such as Austria, Italy, France, Germany, Finland, Ukraine and Switzerland. While the crisis in West Asia was one of reasons for the teams to pull out, many of them also couldn’t get their visas approved, according to an International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) official.
“Because of the absence of some of the top teams, there was lack of competition in some of the opening round games but we are hoping for some good matches in the coming days,” said Belgium’s Kyan Vercauteren. He along with his partner Joppe van Langendonck won the U21 World Championship in 2023 and are hoping to make it to the top in the event.
Despite the absence of the stars, one of the big names to have come down is US Olympian Sara Hughes and she has been quite pleased with how the athletics stadium has been converted into a beach volleyball arena with processed sand from as many as 250 trucks.
However, with the event set to take place over the next two years in Odisha, the plan is to host the tournament at a proper beach, possibly in Gopalpur or Puri.
“We had a discussion with state tourism secretary Balwant Singh and he has agreed to come down here. So, if everyone agrees to our proposal including the FIVB, we are ready to support the government and organise the event either in Gopalpur or Puri next year,” said Gaganendu Dash, director general, KIIT and KISS sports and secretary general of Odisha Volleyball Association.
While it would certainly be nice to see the event staged at a proper sea beach, it is worth remembering that even at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the competition took place on man-made sand courts set up beside the iconic Eiffel Tower.
Besides the teams, what has also been missing at the tournament are the fans. It was mainly the school students that filled up the stands on Friday and they had a gala time. However, the director general is not too worried about it and hopes that the event will inspire the youngsters to take up the game in the coming days.
“Our aim is that when the event returns, an Indian team should win a medal here. We also want more Indian teams to participate regularly at the international level. Maybe after some years, we can even have an Indian team in beach volleyball at the Olympics,” added the director general.
It’s quite a big target but not impossible considering the support that KIIT has decided to give to the sport.