Subba Rao....The pride of Indian Volleyball

  

Being exceptionally tall, lanky and soft spoken, Subba Rao was always exposed to public’s bullying for the first 18 years of his life. But, since the day Pandit ji, spotted him in a West Delhi Inter School Athletics meet in 1994, life had taken a U turn for the youngest son of Y Nageshwar Rao. In the next 18 years public across the nation admired, appreciated and applauded Subba Rao for his extraordinary contribution towards Indian Volleyball.

During his High School days, a biology teacher once asked all students what they wished to become in life? When most of the students wanted to be Doctor, Engineer, Pilot and Astronaut, Subba Rao was the odd one out, who politely confessed “I want to become a sportsman”. All his friends exploded into laughter. Sports was never considered a career option way back in the nineties. Ten years later, the same biology teacher, who later became the Head Mistress of the school, proudly invited Subba Rao as the Chief Guest of their annual day event. She Introduced Subba Rao as a boy who dared to choose the path less travelled and made the country proud by defeating Pakistan in Pakistan.

Subba Rao was the captain of the Indian Volleyball Team in 2004 Islamabad SAF Games. When asked by the students what was the best moment of his sports life, Rao shared his experience of how great he felt, when the national anthem was played and Indian tricolour was hoisted in Pakistan after winning the Gold medal at Islamabad.  

It all started in 1994. Pandit ji, the popular volleyball coach of Delhi on spotting Subba Rao at the athletic meet, requested him to contact Mr Saxena, a senior volleyball coach. The very next day Subba Rao was at Ramesh Nagar volleyball ground to meet Mr Saxena. The experienced coach   had an instant feeling that one day this boy can be an asset to Indian Volleyball, so he desired to meet Subba’s father before starting his training. Subba’s father, who was then a General Manager with Hindustan Hindware Company at Bahadurgarh, understood the bright future his son had in volleyball and without going into much details handed him over to Mr Saxena for further training.

For the first time in his life Subba found someone who believed in his talent. Mr Sexena introduced him to the basics of volleyball. Every morning Subba would board a jam packed DTC bus from Bahadurgarh, attend Andhra School at Karol Bagh, go for practice at Ramesh Nagar ground and finally reach home late in the evening after travelling almost 120km. When asked, how he managed his studies, he responded, “bas pass ho jata tha”.  After a year of training Subba Rao was selected in the Delhi state junior team to participate in the National Junior championship at Salem in the year 1996.

At Junior National Championship, Assam team was accommodated in a school room adjacent to Delhi team. A player from Assam later narrated stories of Delhi team which did everything, apart from playing quality volleyball. They played loud music through the night, danced and even shaved off  their hair, including Subba Rao. Though Subba Rao was a substitute sometimes, he was used in the blocking position. In one such match against Punjab, Subba Rao was substituted inside to block the sensational Manoj Kumar Thakur, who was at his all-time best. A powerful counter attack from Manoj Kumar hit Subba Rao’s hand so hard that he fell down on the ground few feet away from the net. Subba Rao felt humiliated and that evening he realized that to become a player of international repute a lot had to be sacrificed.

Months later his ‘vanvas’ started. On advice of Mr Saxena, he arrived at the door step of Guru Dronacharaya Shri Shayam Sunder Rao. It was 1996, Shayam Sunder Rao was the Chief Coach of National Volleyball Academy at Vizag Steel Plant. For all Indian volleyball players, Shayam Sunder Rao’s voice was enough to  make sweat run down the spine. He was hard task master and there was no room for excuses. At times, even if some player fractured their ankle, they were not given rest. Instead, the players had to train with a single leg hopping. Across the country when people were collapsing because  of rise in mercury to as high as 45 degree centigrade, Subba Rao was completing 10 rounds of duck-walk below the net with a 10 Kilo medicine ball on his shoulder. Only a Shayam sir’s trainee would be able to explain how it feels doing 10 rounds of Duck Walk after completing 3 hours of rigorous circuit training in the afternoon session. No matter how much punishment training Subba Rao was subjected to, he proudly attributes his success to Shayam Sir and Pandian Sir for moulding him into a world class volleyball player.

Back in 1997, Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) launched its 2001 Plan and Subba Rao was selected in the initial probable. The Junior Indian Camp was under the stewardship of G E Sridharan, also a strict disciplinarian. Dr Ruben Acosta, the then President of FIVB who came to Chennai for the inauguration of the FIVB Development Centre was impressed to see Y Subba Rao. He predicted a bright future for India after meeting Rao and his team members.

Initially Subba struggled in the Junior Indian Camp as the counter and quick attackers were much more experienced than him. Subba hardly had any tournament experience and was unable to match their speed. The coaching team of G E Sridharan, Chander Singh and Chanden Sen had to put on extra hours in moulding Subba as per the team requirement. Subba worked hard on his coordination and by the time he participated in the Junior Asian Championship, he had a lot to contribute in terms of blocking. Gradually, he was becoming a nightmare for the opponent attackers. Even though India could not win a medal in the 1998 Asian Junior Championships, Subba Rao was recognized as a potential threat by the Chinese and Koreans.

Five years later the threat turned into reality. Subba Rao single handily created havoc for  all the Asian Super power including Korea in the Senior Asian Championship held at Tainjin (China) in 2003. The Olympic medallist Bulgarian coach Hristov Illieve was In-Charge of the Indian team. India beat Korea in the first game and there on continued beating the best teams of Asia. During the course of the tournament, Subba was proving to be the “China Wall” of Indian volleyball, which even the Chinese feared to cross. But a five set lost to Iran cost India dearly and finally India had to settle for 5th place. But Y Subba Rao created history. He was conferred with three awards at the Asian Senior Championship. He was awarded Best Attacker, Best Blocker and Most Valuable Player of Asia. No other player had ever won three awards in a single tournament. Not being considered for Arjuna Award even after this extraordinary feat is the only regret Subba has till date. Later he proved his calibre again by becoming the best blocker of the Asian Senior Championship again in the year 2004.

                                         

Subba Rao joined ONGC in the year 1998 at a time when ONGC was struggling to make a mark in the national arena. In the course of next 16 years, he had become the talisman of ONGC volleyball team. Winning became a habit for him, from Senior National to National League, Subba had won all. One of the best moment in his life was receiving the best player award at Chautala Senior Nationals in 2001. He gave the entire best player prize money of Rs 11,000 to his Mother and he confessed it was his first best player award ever in his life. Years later, he sportingly recalled over a glass of favourite scotch with his friends how bad he used to feel when all the best player award were given to his friend Abhijit and his contribution was never acknowledged during their initial years in ONGC.

During one such tournament in an interior village near Bhagpat, an 8 years old kid had an unusual doubt regarding Subba Rao. Being 6 feet 10 inch, it was obvious to be under constant public glare and comments. The boy was hardly of Subba Rao’s hip height. He was standing next to Subba Rao and constantly pulling his track suit, is if he wished to know a secret from him. Looking at the appearance of the boy, Rao initially ignored. But the boy kept on repeating “aa bhai… aa bhai” (hello brother… hello brother). Finally Subba Rao responded “Kya huwa” ( What happened?)  , the boy asked “accha ye bata…tera akalay akalay etna uppar man kaisa lagta hai!!!” (Don’t you feel lonely up above at such a height). Subba was clueless, how to response. His best friend was witnessed to the entire conversation and the incident  spread like wild fire.  That night the joke was repeated thousands of times and is still repeated when old friends meet. But, the best part about Subba Rao is that he never takes things to heart. You can joke about anything with him and he will respond with that same laid back attitude without taking any hard feelings. He is a real darling of his close friends.

Subba played professional league at Lebanon during 1999 and 2000, along with the great magician setter of Indian Volleyball, Ravikanth Reddy. After returning from Lebanon, Subba Rao’s playing style changed a lot, he started displaying maturity. Later he got offers from top Italian and Argentine clubs but due to commitment with the National team, Volleyball Federation of India could not permit him to play those leagues. Rao felt that the exposure to play in a European and Latin American league would have made a lot of difference to his personal as well as professional life. But Rao had always taken life on a positive note and without complaining, always contributed to the National team.

Subba Rao’s marriage to Jyothi, a first class Master Degree holder in Mathematics from a small town called Puttur in Andhra Pradesh, brought an end to all speculation about an ideal wife for him. During his early playing days the topic of discussion in the volleyball circuit was always about finding a perfect wife for Subba Rao. His friends would link him to any tall girl and Subba would enjoy those moments smiling quietly. Now he is happily married and blessed with a lovely daughter and a smart son. These days he is playing a dual role of helping ONGC win medals and helping Jyothi in changing  dippers.

Recently, President of Volleyball Federation of India honored Y Subba Rao with Five Gold coins for his extraordinary contribution towards Indian volleyball. In the last one and a half decade Subba Rao was awarded best player on numerous occasions. The Andhra Pradesh Government has honored him by allotting a plot of land at his home town Nellore.

Subba Rao had changed the people’s perspective towards Blockers. Blockers in India had never been given due credit till Subba Rao proved everyone wrong. Today in a remote village tournament in Assam, if a player scores a point by blocking, spectators would say “sa aru eta  Subba Rao bonilay” (Look one more Subba Rao is born). In Indian Volleyball, Subba Rao has become synonymous with blocking- he holds the unofficial copyright to the word “Blocking” in Indian volleyball.

Abhijit Bhattacharya

ongc.abhijit@gmail.com