Panaji: Chirag Yadav remembers the loss against Indonesia in the semifinals, more than any other game in the AVC Nations Cup at Veer Savarkar Sports Complex, Ahmedabad.The national volleyball team strung together five wins against New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei, Australia and Bahrain to top the group stage at the Nations Cup. The players made Ahmedabad fall in love with the sport, but when India fell short in the crucial semifinals, the legs suddenly seemed heavier than before, every step appeared painful, and what they had so carefully built for weeks was in danger of crashing down.“The semifinal is always the toughest match,” Chirag, India’s top scorer in the tournament and Goa Guardians captain, told TOI over a recent video call. “If you win, a medal (gold or silver) is assured, but if you lose, you could end up with nothing. It’s tough. We did whatever we could, even took a lead in the decisive fifth set, but Indonesia were lucky.“The loss is damaging. When a team reaches the final, the body does not feel tired. But after a loss in the semis, everything changes. You don’t get proper sleep, and since you sleep late, and wake up early, preparations for the game the next day are hampered. Since we got amazing love from the whole country, we didn’t want to exit without winning a medal.”It was during this time that India’s Serbian volleyball coach, Dragan Mihailovic, reminded the team how important it was to finish on the podium. He told the team: “Nobody will care about Indian volleyball if we finish fourth.”India did have a medal, a bronze, thanks to a 3-1 win against defending champions Bahrain. It was the country’s first continental medal in recent times, never mind that the top Asian sides — Japan, Iran and China – besides Pakistan were missing.The medal has got India talking about volleyball. Chirag sensed it in Ahmedabad where an estimated 8,000 fans turned up for the final and an equal number stood outside because there were no seats available.“We didn’t expect so many fans to come and cheer us. Even the organisers were surprised. At the start, only half of the arena was open, but in the end, there were so many people that it became difficult to control the crowd. We did well because of the fans.“We got so much love and support. We used to step out of the stadium an hour after the match concluded, yet people stood outside for autographs and pictures. Earlier only cricketers used to get such attention, now it feels good that volleyball players are also recognised,” said Chirag, the Haryana-based spiker who began his volleyball journey from Gandhinagar in Gujarat.Chirag was in fine form all through the tournament, picking up 111 points, the fourth-highest tally overall. The team has now qualified for the 12-team AVC Continental Cup in Sept, and after jumping to seventh in Asia, also made it to the Asian Games, where they have been grouped with Qatar, Vietnam and Hong Kong.India have won three medals in volleyball at the Asian Games – a silver and two bronze – the last of which came in 1986, achieved by a dream team that included greats like Jimmy George, Cyril Valloor, Abdul Basith, Sandeep Sharma and PV Ramanna. It’s been 40 years since then. Can Chirag & co. write another glorious chapter?“If we continue to play like we did in the AVC Nations Cup, a medal is possible,” said Chirag. “Teams like Japan and Iran are better than us at this moment because they play so many tournaments all through the year. We don’t even play 5% of what they do. We need exposure (tours). We have to play more. It’s been a long time since India won a medal at the Asian Games in volleyball. We want to end the wait.”
