Senior National Volleyball Championship 2019-20 Inaugurated
The 68th Senior National Volleyball (Men & Women) Championship 2019-20 began on December 25 at KIIT University. It will continue till January 2, 2020.
A glittering inauguration ceremony was held in the Indoor Stadium. Students of KISS performed traditional dance and band on this occasion.
Founder of KIIT and KISS, President of the Organising Committee and Kandhamal MP Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Chairman, Organizing Committee and Odisha Minister of Steel & Mines, Works, Prafulla Kumar Mallik, Regional Director of the Sports Authority of India, Shiv Sharma, Chairman, Control Committee and Vice President of Volleyball Federation of India Rathin Roy Chaudhury, Vice President of the Volleyball Federation of India, Ram Lal Verma, Arjuna awardee, Dronacharya awardee, and National Volleyball coach GE Shridharan, President, Odisha Volleyball Association Er. Subodh Kumar Rourray and Director Sports, KIIT Deemed to be University and Secretary, Odisha Volleyball Association Dr. Gaganendu Dash were present on the dais during the inauguration of the Championship.
This is for the first time that Odisha is hosting the Senior National Volleyball (Men & Women) Championship which is going on at KIIT premises. Also, for the first in the history of Indian Volleyball, the Senior National Championship is being held in a single indoor hall having 4 courts.
This is for the first time that 58 teams are participating in a Senior National Volleyball Championship. Over 200 International Players (M&W) are participating in the championship.
The players participating in this Championship would be selected for the Indian team which would be participating in the Olympic qualifiers held at Guangzhou, China in the month of January 2020.
At least 31 men teams and 27 women teams have participated in the Championship. They are: West Bengal, Rajasthan, Kerala, Maharastra, Odisha, Bihar, Andaman & Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Assam, Gujarat, Manipur, Delhi, Chattishgarh, Karnataka, Telengana, Tamilnadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Pondicherry, Uttarakhand, Goa, Tripura, Mizoram Services, Railways.