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Volleyball player Amit Gulia is looking forward to the Prime Volleyball League, which begins in Kochi on February 5. The young attacker is waiting with bated breath to be a part of a league that offers a lot of learning opportunities for budding volleyball players.
Hyderabad Black Hawks acquired the services of Amit Gulia for ₹10 lakh in the Prime Volleyball League player auction earlier this month. He will be part of a versatile team that has foreign players - Luis Antonio Arias Guzman from Venezuela (universal) and Henry Bell from Cuba (attacker) in their ranks.
Amit Gulia is looking forward to rubbing shoulders with some of the best in the business.
"The Prime Volleyball League will provide a great platform to the volleyball players, wherein they can showcase their talent. There will be foreign players as well and we have a foreign coach in Ruben Wolochin from Argentina as well. We get to learn a lot while playing with foreign players," Amit said.
Read: Prime Volleyball League: Chennai Blitz happy on forming a formidable team
Amit Gulia, who is employed by the Income Tax Department in New Delhi, spoke about his journey in volleyball so far.
"I started playing volleyball in Sirsa, Haryana in 2008. I came across volleyball while I was studying in a boarding school there. First, I played for my school team and then played age-group national tournaments. Thereafter, I participated in my first senior nationals in 2016 (Haryana team). Two years later, I played for the Indian team for the first time and I am currently in the national side," he said.
Also read: Prime Volleyball League: Hyderabad Black Hawks to focus on local players from state
Amit spoke about how he oscillates between working for the Income Tax Department and playing volleyball professionally.
"I have had enough time to practice since I got this job through sports quota. When I am not playing tournaments or practicing, I work for the Income Tax Department. I work for around one or two weeks every month. I also play for the department in tournaments held only for Civil Services departments," he said.
Amit hopes volleyball infrastructure improves with professional leagues
Amit was also part of the gold medal-winning Indian team at the South Asian Games in 2019 in Kathmandu. He played in the 2018 Asian Games and led the Indian side to a silver medal at the U-23 Asian Championship in 2019 in Myanmar.
Amit Gulia hopes the infrastructure for the sport in the country changes with the advent of the Prime Volleyball League.
"Volleyball is an indoor sport and whichever competition we play in; it is held in an indoor stadium. The issue is that there are not too many indoor stadiums for us to practice in. We get to practice in indoor stadiums when we are in the Nationals camps, but otherwise we have to train outdoors. The Prime Volleyball League will also give us an opportunity to carry out our practice sessions in indoor stadiums," he hoped.
