Dalel singh volleyball player biography of donald

It was no ordinary team. Led by Valloor, a squad featuring Jimmy George — widely considered the greatest in the game in India — and the likes of Abdul Basith, GE Sridharan, Dalel Singh, Sukhpal Singh, Sandeep Sharma, PV Ramana — all tall figures in Indian volleyball — can be anything but. The sum of every talent’s individual brilliance made a bronze-winning bunch in Seoul.

“It was a team of stars, but we all played for each other,” Dalel says. “From the early 80s, we were almost the same team. It was a mix of youth and experience. At that time, we played a lot with the Chinese, Japanese and the Koreans. So, we were used to them. And we trained accordingly before the Asian Games.”

The format was then divided into preliminary league and Super League stages. India qualified for the latter beating Hong Kong (3-0), Bahrain (3-0), Saudi Arabia (3-1) and Indonesia (3-0) and only losing to South Korea (0-3). In the four-team Super League to determine the medallists, India’s 3-0 victory over a winless Japan proved enough for bronze despite running into Korea again and China (both 0-3 defeats).

Almost three decades on, a win against Japan could put an Indian men’s volleyball team on the cusp of another medal.

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