Volleyball · International
Abhijit Bhattacharya wins IOC global inclusion award
The Brahmaputra Volleyball League founder was honoured for expanding opportunities in rural Assam.
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Former India captain Abhijit Bhattacharya was named global winner of the 2025 IOC Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Champions Award. His work uses volleyball to broaden participation and leadership opportunities for children in Assam, particularly girls with limited access to organised sport.
Bhattacharya began the Assam Volleyball Mission 100 in 2019 and later founded the Brahmaputra Volleyball League. The programme has involved more than 12,000 children across four hundred teams, with girls approaching equal participation in the under-sixteen category.
The league combines competition with safeguarding, menstrual health awareness and coach education. Through partnerships including UNICEF, forty-five girls, forty-five boys and about fifty coaches trained as community ambassadors, linking volleyball participation with education, child rights and wider community initiatives.
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