Late-night matches taking a toll on players

KOZHOKIDE: It was 1.30 in the morning and some lanky, well-built men were wandering around Kozhikode city on Thursday in search of their dinner. Major restaurants and some of the street food outlets were closed by then and the volleyball players of Tamil Nadu and Services, who came here to participate in the 66th Senior National Volleyball Championship for men and women, were left in the lurch.The organisers were nowhere in sight and it was only after roaming for an hour, they managed to find a roadside eatery to quell their hunger on the opening day of the championship.
The inordinate delay in schedule of matches meant that players of both Services and Tamil Nadu got back to their hotels close to three in the morning. There was no change in the script on the second day too as Services had to play another match against Indian Railways which finished after midnight. Tamil Nadu’s situation was even worse. They started their warm-up for their match against Himachal Pradesh only after 12 midnight. The lack of empathy shown by the organisers towards the players has got the team managements livid. Tamil Nadu’s experienced coach P Sundaram was surprised. “We have played one or two all-India club level matches this late. But playing a national championship match at midnight is never heard of,” Sundaram said before his team’s match against Himachal Pradesh.
When asked about how midnight games were affecting players' performance in an eight-day event, a source close to Services team said that their players were forced to skip routine practice in the morning. “After their match against Railways on Thursday, players returned to the hotel around 2 am. They went to sleep at 3 and how can we ask them to get ready for practice next day morning. That’s not fair at all,” the source told TOI on Friday. Though Services lost both those matches and Tamil Nadu won their two, Tamil Nadu players too feels let down by the organisers.
GR Vaishnav, Indian international and Tamil Nadu’s trump card in the event, said the latenight matches in the group stage may have a negative effect on the team when they play tough games from the knockout stage. “This is completely against the biological clock. By midnight, we all go to bed. But here, we were charging up our body to play a high-voltage volleyball game. Yeah, we will make it to the quarters as we are on top in our group but if we play our group games like this, we will be a tired side when we reach the knockout round,” the 27-year said. "We tried to arrange some extra courts but couldn't arrange it on time. We understand the situation and will be doing our best conduct remaining matches on time," said Nalakath Bashser, general convenor of organising committee.