SRM’s golden run in John Memorial

The Chennai-based team completed a golden run in the John Memorial Volleyball Tournament beating the top club in the country, ONGC in the men’s final and proved that after IOB’s golden run a decade ago, the city has found a side that would challenge the best in the sport. For the record, SRM had won the John Memorial in 2014 and 2015 as well. 

SRM’s best two players Jerome Vinith and Muthusamy, who are currently with BPCL, joined them as they had studied in the university and were part of the team that played in tournaments a few years ago. They were made available to SRM only because BPCL did not play in the tournament.

SRM coach Dakshinamoorthy says it was team work that helped his side in the success in the tournament. “The players are young, energetic and hard-working,” he said. The coach was all praise for Selvapandi (blocker) and Ramanathan (libero) in the initial stage of the event and especially in the match against Customs. “In the semi-final against ICF, Vasanthi (blocker) and Mohankumar were excellent and they were also good throughout the tournament,” added Dakshinamoorthy. “In the final against ONGC, Jerome Vinith was unstoppable and others supported him. That helped the team beat one of the best teams in the country.” Jerome and Muthusamy were chosen the Best Attacker and Best Setter in the tournament. 

It was in 2007 that SRM worked with purpose to form a competitive side in volleyball. With this objective, they developed a university side and slowly became a force to reckon with at the national level. Jerome and Muthusamy had joined the team in 2011. Jerome was there till 2015 and Muthusamy till 2016.