The Tamil Nadu volleyball team’s record, sweeping all national titles from 1991 to 1994, remains unbroken and the man at the centre of things for TN was Sundaram Ponnusamy, the setter. “Except for setter, there were no specialist positions back then. We had a general game where a blocker may take the role of a universal, an attacker and vice-versa when the situation demanded. Only the setter had a defined role,” says the 46-year-old.
In 1993, Salem-born Sundaram’s cup of joy was overflowing as he got the captaincy of TN and the national team but a bike accident in 1995 threw his career off track. He escaped with minor injuries to the stomach, but running and training were impossible. “For six months, I couldn’t play at all and regaining my position in the Indian team seemed impossible,” he recollects.
Not one to give up easily, the fitness junkie set about regaining his health. “It was a slow process and it took me another six months to start playing actively. I knew I had to start from scratch, so played in all the small tournaments,” he says.
His perseverance paid off and he re-joined the state team after 3 to 4 four years. Another four years later, with the national squad lacking a quality setter, a super-fit Sundaram became the automatic choice for the Asian Championship in Thailand in 2006. At 38, he was the oldest and was given the opportunity to lead the team. “We lost to China in the semifinals and that remains our best performance since the third place finish in 1982,” the former setter says of his last international game.
On the popularity of the game in Chennai, the current IOB coach who also guided the state team to the national title in December 2013 says, “I have been in Chennai for the last 25 years. Nothing much has changed in terms of crowd reception. You play in the stadiums of Egmore or Santhome, there is hardly any crowd. Even if people come, they stay till 8.30 at the most. Go to residential localities like Kodambakkam or Ashok Nagar, the stadiums are packed with vociferous crowds who don’t mind staying even if the match goes well past midnight. It is a rural sport with rural following.”
He says the game should be taken to the people, to the residential places. “Stadiums wouldn’t do any good.” As for the evolvement of the sport, he adds, “Coming from rural areas and with a passion for the game, all we cared about was playing and securing some job. Things are not the same now. Job opportunities have dwindled and players are also choosy about the team they play and the pay they receive.”
(A weekly column on famous sportspersons whose first playing field was Chennai)
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by Anjana Senthil, TNN / July 12th, 2014