Thirty percent of the Indian Direct Volleyball team constitute Parsis, commented Member of the Legislative Assembly Amin Patel at the felicitation function organized to honor twins Astad and Afrid Palkhiwalla, and Paras Daruwala. Initially representing Marazban Colony, Gilder Lane at the all Parsi Direct Volleyball tournaments, the trio now play for the national team, noted a press release on the function by Dr Gev Dalal, formerly a player and now manager of the Marazban Colony team. The distinguishing feature of direct volleyball is that when trying to ground the ball in the opposite team’s court, the player has to ensure that the ball goes to the opposite team directly over the net and not via another player from one’s own team.
Presenting the trio with a shawl and a trophy at the event in their honor held at the BMC (Bombay Municipal Corporation) School Hall on August 27, 2023, Patel commented that if a political party loses an election, the members will keep dwelling on and analyzing the defeat for several days thereafter, but a sportsman will be present on the court the very next day for practice. That is the true spirit of sportsmanship.
Above, from l: Astad and Afrid Palkhiwalla, Paras Daruwala; top: with team members in Nepal;
top r, 1st row: Amin Patel (l) and Javed Juneja; 2nd row: Dinshaw Mehta (l) and Pervin Daruwalla
Playing volleyball for the last 15 years, the 33-year-old Palkhiwalla twins and 35-year-old Daruwala were part of Team India that won the Dubai World Cup Direct Volleyball Championship played from December 28, 2022 to January 1, 2023 and the Third Indo-Nepal Direct Volleyball International Championship held in Nepal on June 28 and 29, 2023. When playing for Team Goa at the national level tournaments in Nasik the three of them had been approached by the selection committee of the Direct Volleyball Promotion Association of India.
Commending the hard work and dedication of the three volleyball players from the neighborhood, E Ward municipal corporator Javed Juneja remarked that the sportsmen had to bear their own expenses when playing for the country as this game is not recognized by the Ministry of Sports, Government of India. Juneja urged Patel to pursue this matter in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. While Astad works as tour manager and Afrid as manager for Zubin’s Royal Fleet, Paras is the manager at the Modi Hostel in Fort.
Also felicitated on the occasion was Dinshaw Mehta, former chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet and his son Viraf, a current trustee. Dinshaw had instituted the Rotational Trophy for the Direct Volleyball Inter-Colony Parsi Tournament in memory of his father Rusi. The Mehta family, it was acknowledged, has been supporting the Marazban Colony team for several years by sponsoring their T-shirts for the Inter-Colony Tournament at the Panday School grounds in the Colony.
Taking the initiative to hold the felicitation function was Pervin Daruwalla, social worker from Marazban Colony and vice president of the minority committee, Indian National Congress, who Patel described as "the face of the Parsi community, always willing to help people in need.”