The decision was taken on Tuesday that volleyball will not be a part of the National Games hosted in Goa on October 26. It is a major disappointment for the sport as the Indian Men's Volleyball team triumphantly defeated three-time champion South Korea and higher-ranked Chinese Taipei to finish sixth at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

The ad hoc committee stated that not much time is available for establishing the eight teams for the National Games. The ad hoc committee, formed by the Indian Olympic Association in mid-June, at present not only runs the volleyball affairs but also conducts the Volleyball Federation of India’s elections. 

“We are in a situation where we cannot recommend eight teams for the National Games without any dispute happening afterwards. We don’t have an undisputed criteria to qualify the teams. If we select eight teams, we should be able to defend it. That is the problem faced by the ad hoc committee,” former international S. Gopinath, a member of IOA’s volleyball ad hoc committee said in an interview with Sportstar. 

According to the rules set by the IOA, teams to attend the National Games should be selected based on their rankings in the National Championships. However, due to the fact that VFI has been suspended since December 2019 for various reasons and their Nationals were conducted in February, the ranking is invalid.