The height of inconvenience

There is always some or the other inconvenience faced by the foreign players, when they visit India. Sometimes it is the hot and humid weather and most of the time it is the spicy food.

But the French junior volleyball team’s Ivan Kartev is facing a unique problem here. The player is finding the doors of the hotel room very short for him.

Hotel is not to be blamed for that, but with Kartev’s height. The 18-year-old is the tallest player amongst the 16 teams, which are participating in the World Junior Volleyball Championship, which will commence on July 31 at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex at Balewadi in Pune.

Kartev is 217 cm tall (7’ 1”), which literally gives him the upper hand over others in the tournament. Ask him about the advantages of his height and he says, “Well, it is good for me and it helps me in my game. It is surely an advantage for me and my team.”
But it must be difficult for him to adjust to the hotel doors. Are the beds fine for him? “Yes the beds more or less alright, but the doors are really a problem. I have to bend too low to get inside,” he said.

But more than the disadvantages, he looks at the positive sides of his height.
“I don’t have to make any extra effort to block the ball near the net. I can block it or hit a smash without taking a jump. It is very comfortable as I just have to raise my hands to do that,” he says.

Kartev feels that though there are many good sides participating in the championship, his team stands a chance to win the trophy.

“If we play our natural game, then I am sure we will reach to the podium,” he signed off.