If thousands of children now play volleyball in rural Assam and have a shot at life, it's all thanks to Abhijit Bhattacharya, a former captain of India's men's national volleyball team. His community-driven Brahmaputra Volleyball League has brought around 12,000 children, both boys and girls, into organised sports in the last six years. On Monday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) named Bhattacharya the Global Winner of the 2025 Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (GEDI) Champions Award.
The honour recognises Abhijit Bhattacharya's work in building grassroots sports programmes that give equal chances to girls and boys in rural Assam, using volleyball to drive social change and empower young people. One has to understand that it is rural areas we are talking about where even education is a struggle. Through volleyball, Bhattacharya is not only promoting an active lifestyle, he is also providing the scope for these children to try for jobs through sports quota.
Bhattacharya, who played at the top level before turning to community work, started his efforts in 2019 with the Assam Volleyball Mission 100 (AVM100). He started the initiative by distributing 100 volleyballs to children in tea gardens and villages where kids trained with cloth balls during the Covid-19 lockdown. This grew into creating 100 village clubs.
"I would like to dedicate this award to all the grassroots coaches, volunteers, team adopters, and well-wishers of BVL," Bhattacharya told India Today Digital.
Bhattacharya's efforts to get children into the sport soon led to the creation of the Brahmaputra Volleyball League (BVL), now one of the world's largest community-based grassroots leagues.
From a small start with 50 teams in 34 villages, the BVL has spread to 158 villages across 28 of Assam's 31 districts. It now reaches over 12,000 children in more than 400 teams.
The league runs year-round training and holds hundreds of matches in a home-and-away format for under-12 and under-16 boys' and girls' teams.
Matches are kept local to make them easy to join, with no need for long travel at first. But for many girls in these rural areas, it is their first time playing organised sport or even leaving their village.
In places like Majar Char, a river island in Barpeta district that changes shape due to floods, children play without shoes. Villagers prepare the grounds, set up lights, and host games with feasts of rice, dal, potato fry, fish, and chicken. They also organise cultural shows like Bihu dances to celebrate.
The BVL has brought big changes to these communities.
Teenagers have stopped habits like chewing tobacco to focus on volleyball.
Around 90% of players in Assam's sub-junior and mini-state teams come from the BVL. One girl from Golaghat even made it to the India camp.
"Incredibly proud of Assam's Abhijit Bhattacharya, former captain of our men's national volleyball team for winning the prestigious 2025 IOC GEDI Champions Award," posted Sarbananda Sonowal, Union minister and MP from Assam, on X.
Sonowal said Bhattacharya's tireless efforts with the BVL had transformed the landscape of sports in rural areas of the state.
In the initiative Bhattacharya started, every village must register equal teams for girls and boys.
To keep girls safe, coaches–both men and women–get training on handling barriers like menstrual hygiene. This has cut dropout rates among teenage girls.
Former BVL players are encouraged to become coaches, referees, and officials. A coaching course backed by the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) helped 45 community coaches, with a focus on women from remote areas, get international qualifications.
The FIVB has praised the BVL's model. In late 2023, it sent Olympic gold medallists like Mariya Luis from Cuba, Vladimir Grbic from Serbia, and Giba from Brazil, plus a Dutch expert, to train 70 coaches.
Bhattacharya said the award has moved him deeply. "Representing India in winning this award, and most importantly representing the villages of Assam, makes me deeply emotional," he said.
"I don't see it solely as a recognition of my work, but as a tribute to every volunteer, every parent who allowed their daughter to step out and play, and every young girl who believed in herself enough to know that she belonged on a volleyball court."
He added, "On the court, the girls are making history by representing Assam for the first time ever in the quarterfinals of the Junior National Championship. Off the court, they are becoming ambassadors for child rights and climate resilience."
Bhattacharya's feat shows how sports can help build confidence and resilience in children, especially among girls. He has created a template that can be replicated across India.
