Jagatsinghpur boy Rahul selected for Indian volleyball team

Jagatsinghpur: Rahul Barik has made Jagatsinghpur proud after he was selected for the Indian volleyball team for the 2023 Asian Men’s Volleyball Challenge Cup tournament which started at Taipei in Taiwan on July 8 and will continue till July 15.

Hailing from Garama village under Balikuda block, Rahul became the second Odia player after 31 years to be selected for the National volleyball team. Earlier, an Odisha player, Mohammed Masiu, was selected for the Indian volleyball team in 1992.

Rahul took to volleyball during his school days. He later came in contact with Paradip Port Sports department coach Sanjaya Das and received training under him.

Rahul was selected for inter-district volleyball tournament and later for Odisha’s U-19 team in 2017. In 2019, he was selected for State U-21 team. Rahul cemented his place in the State senior team under the guidance of coach Gaganendu Dash in 2020 and performed brilliantly at several national level tournaments.

The State Sports department watched Rahul’s performance and offered him to get advanced training in volleyball at the Sports Hostel in Bhubaneswar last year. The National selectors, after watching Rahul’s performance, selected him for the Indian team for the 2023 Asian Men’s Volleyball Challenge Cup.