Abhijit Bhattacharya, the former India men’s national volleyball team captain and founder of the Brahmaputra Volleyball League (BVL), has been named the Global Winner of the 2025 International Olympic Committee (IOC) Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (GEDI) Champions Award for his work promoting gender equality in rural India through volleyball.
The IOC GEDI Champions Awards recognise inspiring changemakers committed to advancing gender equality, diversity and inclusion in and through sport.
“Representing India in winning this award, and most importantly representing the villages of Assam, makes me deeply emotional,” said Bhattacharya. “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.”
Following his professional career, Bhattacharya set out on a new challenge: bringing volleyball to his home state of Assam to promote gender equality and change lives. In 2019, he launched the Assam Volleyball Mission 100 (AVM100), an initiative to distribute 100 volleyballs to villages, and later the BVL.
Today, the BVL has engaged more than 12,000 children across 400 teams, using volleyball as a platform for participation, education and leadership development.
“Just as volleyball is one of the most gender equal team sports by nature, equality has been built into our system from day one,” Bhattacharya explained.
The league structure ensures equal opportunities for girls and boys to compete and develop. As the programme has grown, participation among girls has increased dramatically to the point where the ratio is nearly 1:1 in the Under-16 category.
Beyond participation on the court, the league also focuses on creating a safe and supportive environment for girls in sport. Safeguarding frameworks have been introduced, menstrual hygiene awareness programmes implemented and coaches trained to address gender-specific barriers in sport with sensitivity and understanding.
These efforts are opening doors for many girls and boys from Assam who previously had little access to organised sport.
“When we started in 2019, nearly 90 per cent of the children were stepping outside their village for the first time in their lives,” said Bhattacharya. “Fast forward to 2025, and the girls from the Under-12 and Under-16 Season 5 winning teams travelled to Bhubaneswar to take part in the Kanya Kiran ‘Girl Sunshine’ mass participation programme. And this was all possible because of volleyball.”
The programme’s impact extends well beyond sport. Through partnerships with organisations such as UNICEF, 45 girls, 45 boys and around 50 coaches have been trained as community ambassadors and become advocates for education, equality and social change in their communities.
Bhattacharya commented: “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 initiatives.”
Across Assam, the programme has sparked new energy in villages as families and communities rally around their teams.
“The girls are becoming more confident and their families are feeling hopeful for their children’s futures,” he added. “You can see their joy and pride in witnessing how their children are contributing to their village.”
Recognised by the FIVB Volleyball Foundation as one of its first projects, the Brahmaputra Volleyball League has become a global example of how volleyball can transform lives and communities. Its philosophy strongly aligns with the FIVB Strategic Vision 2032, where both empowerment and mass participation are key principles with the aim of making the sport more accessible, understandable and affordable for all.
Bhattacharya also currently serves as President of the FIVB Mass Participation & Snow Volleyball Commission, where he continues to champion initiatives that expand access to volleyball.
