look news india
In 1990 Meghraj Mukabal arrived to play volleyball wearing a Ghaghru shirt, bangles, a big stick and slippers and lost in the first round against Ahmedabad by a score of 15-0, 15-3.
The organisers taunted the defeated team's coach Varjangwala, saying, “I am leaving now.” Hurt by the insulting criticism, Varjangwala decided to make Sarkhadi village of Gir Somnath internationally famous for volleyball. Today Sarkhadi village is the place from where about 300 players have played volleyball at the national level. Four sisters reached the international level and two of them, Kinjalwala and Chetnawala, also captained the Indian team.
In Sarkhadi village, the practice of shamanism was more prevalent and it became difficult for Varjangwala to convince parents to send girls to play volleyball. Gradually, the narrow-mindedness vanished from the village and the number of girls reached seven to eight. Today this number has reached 100 with 30 to 40 boys and about 60 girls taking volleyball training. In the National School Games in 2006, Gujarat won the gold medal in volleyball with a team of 12 members from Sarkhadi and Charda villages. PT teacher Varjangwala, who constantly inspires the youth, is retiring in 2022 but is still working hard.