Rajasthan: Volleyball sisters and a father's quest for glory

Jaipur: Five sisters from a nondescript village in Churu district of Rajasthan are working day and night to realise their father's dream of seeing them play volleyball at international level and bring laurels to the country.

The girls (volleyball sisters), who belong to Jigsana Tal village, hogged the limelight in the recently organised state-level Rajiv Gandhi Rural Olympics, coming third.

Nitika, the youngest among the five sisters, captained the team, whereas Priyanka played as setter, and Arbina and Aina as attackers.

Bhawana, the eldest sister, once participated in a national tournament as an athlete, and is currently preparing for a physical training instructor course.

"The team stood third in the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Olympics state-level event. Out of the six-member team, five were my daughters. The youngest of them, Nitika, who played as captain was honoured by the Chief Minister," their father Om Prakash Saharan told PTI.

Saharan has eight daughters and seven of them have played at district, state, and national level sports events.

He said that Aina has played volleyball at national level four times and won a silver medal once, whereas Priyanka, Arbina, and Aina together have won the gold medal thrice.

Saharan said that his daughters have been preparing since 2016 and practise volleyball five hours every day.

He attributed their resolution to their instructors, Dilip Singh Poonia and Sanjay Dhua.

Saharan said he used to take his daughters every month to participate in an open volleyball competition in Haryana, where they have won several medals.

"I don't have a son so I decided to give sports training to my daughters so that they could play for the country and bring medals and make the people of the village and the country proud.

"It is an unfulfilled dream of mine, as I also played volleyball at state level before 1986," Saharan said.

All they need is the right guidance and right training, he said.

Saharan decided to raise his daughters as sports persons right after they were born and trained them on school ground.

"Dilip Poonia also made my daughters play with boys to make them the best players of volleyball," he said.

Aina said, "It is my dream to play for the country and fulfil my father's dream to make people proud. It is due to the motivation given by my family and training given by our instructor Dilip Poonia.” "I am hoping that our hard work will pay off one day and I will represent the country at international competitions," she said.

Rural Olympics In-charge Vijaypal Dhuan lauded the girls for their performance in the tournament, which, he said, even got praise from Churu district collector Siddharth Sihag, who witnessed their play.