Beach volleyball will be a part of the Commonwealth Games lineup for the first time in 2018. Part of a list of optional sports from which the quadrennial gets to choose to supplement the compulsory lineup of sports. Among the countries that won’t be participating is India, whose volleyball federation is still suspended by the FIVB from international play.
The suspension, which applies to both indoor and beach volleyball, stems from an internal dispute between leaders of the organization who have each filed a number of court cases to block the other’s control over the sport in India. An ad hoc president was elected in November, but the move was not enough to break the stalemate as it works through the Indian legal system. The federation’s web
While Canada and Australia are expected to dominate the top of the medals table at the Commonwealth Games, the other set of medals in the men’s and women’s tournaments are wide-open (including from ‘countries’ that haven’t previously had their own ranked athletes, like Scotland and England, whose players have always represented the United Kingdom in past tournaments).
India wouldn’t have been expected to contend for medals (or even qualify for the tournament). Indoor volleyball, where India is stronger, has never been included in the Commonwealth Games.
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