Para Volleyballers from Telangana struggle to fund World Cup trip

Four para volleyball players from Telangana face the burden of raising ₹3.5 lakh each to represent India at the 2025 World Cup, highlighting gaps in support under the state’s sports policy

Hyderabad: Take a bank loan and participate in the 2025 World Para Volleyball (sitting) World Cup at Fort Wayne (Indiana, USA) from October 12 to 18?

Well, this is the dilemma faced by four para spikers from Telangana — R. Naresh Yadav (Kodad), Kalyan (Mancherial), Raju (Mulugu) and Prashanth (Mulugu) — who have been named in the Indian team for the championship.

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For the record, two from Andhra Pradesh — Ramesh (Anakapalle) and Vijay (Darsi) — are also part of the squad.

To put it simply, each selected player has to spend about Rs 3.5 lakh to the Paralympic Committee of India towards participation costs: entry fee, airfare, local transportation, boarding and lodging, visa expenses, insurance and sports kit.

“This is a prestigious championship for us in the para category. It is not very often someone is picked to represent India. But unfortunately, we have been made to run around for financial support,” said 32-year-old Naresh.

Naresh was part of the silver medal-winning team at the 2024 World Championship in Bengaluru and has been a consistent performer at the Senior Nationals. He pointed out that though the new Sports Policy of the Telangana Government has boosted participation, there are no clear guidelines to support para athletes heading for international events.

“Felicitating a winner is different. Helping someone scale the summit is a much-needed proposition,” he stressed.

“There is a lot of hope with the new Sports Policy of Telangana, but it is obvious that the interests of para athletes participating in major events are not being addressed,” Naresh added.

An M.Tech (Bioinformatics) graduate, Naresh is employed with the Postal Department in Secunderabad under the sports quota.

“Given my physical disability (my left leg was affected by polio when I was five), I also need the services of another person to discharge my duties in the Postal Department,” said a visibly dejected Naresh.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed and just hope to make the trip,” he signed off, echoing the sentiments of his fellow teammates.