"It's definitely going in the right direction" - Ci Michel happy with the growth of Prime Volleyball League
The Indian volleyball team is on the growth path and will only get better with time, effort, and investment into the sport. The Prime Volleyball League has played a crucial role in the growth of the sport and in bringing out new players by allowing them to compete with overseas players and train under great minds with the best facilities in the country.
Sportskeeda recently caught up with former volleyball player and current RuPay Prime Volleyball League commentator Ci Michel on the tournament's sidelines to discuss Indian volleyball.
Ci Michel spoke about the growth of Indian volleyball and how the Prime Volleyball League has contributed to its success. She said:
"The RuPay Prime Volleyball League is fantastic. The level is excellent. Every time I watch it, it's improving the speed of the game, the power, the strength of the serve, and the tactics. Everything is elevating year by year. So, it's definitely going in the right direction."
Can India be a medal hopeful at the Olympics?
The Indian volleyball team is yet to make it to the Olympics but is on the right path as the players are getting better and the standard of the game is also improving.
India will need to put in years of hard work and effort to make it to the Olympics someday. Speaking about how long would it take India to be a medal hopeful at the Olympics, Ci Michel stated:
"A medal at the Olympics is something that takes decades of preparation. I don't think that's the kind of thing that comes overnight, and you're competing against nations that just have had so much preparation for years and years and kind of like a culture around it."
She compared it by stating that it was the same thing as the United States taking up cricket and people expecting it to be the best team in the world.
"It would take a long time and a lot of money and investment. Also, it's going in the right direction for sure, in terms of volleyball here, being able to maybe one day have a foot in the door there. But it has to start with precisely what's going on now," she added.
"The money being invested, the players being compensated, the TV giving it primetime space, and then kids the next generation looking at it and going, wow, that's something I want to do. And that's the best way to grow it from the ground up, basically, because the next generations will choose volleyball over cricket one day," she concluded by saying.