Odisha youth Mohammad Raza has been named in the 12-member Indian team for the 22nd FIVB U-21 Men Volleyball World Championship which is set to be held in Manama, Bahrain from 7 to 16 July 2023. The team would leave for Manama, along with four officials tomorrow.

Raza belongs to Kendrapara district and plays as centre blocker. The 6.5 feet tall Raza led Odisha boys team in the 48th Junior National Volleyball Championship, which was held at Maulana Azad Stadium in Jammu from 14 to 19 November 2022.

The team was announced by Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) after culmination of a camp of 20 probables, hosted by Odisha Volleyball Association (OVA) at Biju Patnaik Indoor Stadium, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar from 2 May to 3 July 2023.

The Indian U-21 team qualified for the World Championship after clinching silver medal in the 21st Asian Men U-20 Volleyball Championship after a gap of 20 years at Riffa, Bahrain in 2022.

Altogether 16 teams would vie for the title in the FIVB Volleyball Men U-21 World Championship. India has been placed in Pool C along with Poland, Bulgaria and Canada.

INDIA U-21 MEN VOLLEYBALL TEAM: Dushyant Singh (Captain), Aman Kumar, Md Raza, Sandeep, Yougank Baliyan, Sameer Chaudhary, Baharanidharan S, Tanish Chaudhary, Harshit Giri, Sachin Dagar, Karthikeyan K (Libero), Ajeet Shekho. Manager: J Nandrajan, Head Coach: GE Sridharan, Assistant Coaches: Rajesh Kumar, Praveen K Sharma.
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PHOTO: Players, coaches and manager of Indian team pose with VFI and OVA officials in Bhubaneswar on 3 July 2023, before leaving for the U-21 Men Volleyball World Championship 2023.