Playing on the makeshift mud courts of a small village in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu with elder brother Selvin, Manidurai Naveen Raja Jacob never imagined he would lead his country to a heroic win in a world meet one day. But that is exactly what happened when the middle blocker accounted for eight crucial points in the final set against Russia, out of his total 26 in the match, giving the home team a historic win.

Volleyball turned into a serious proposition for this youngster in 2003 when Selvin encouraged him to play it competitively. “My brother saw some potential in me and pushed me to play. I was also pretty tall for my age,” Naveen said. He burst onto the national scene in 2006 when he led the Vijaywada team to victory in the junior nationals. He then landed a job with Indian Overseas Bank before his first brush with international competition in 2007 as he made the under-19 team for the Mexico junior world championship. He participated in the Junior Asian Games as well, before breaking into the senior team in 2009. He played his first match in the senior-level qualifiers for the world championships.

Naveen is one of three players in this team to make the senior national team and according to many former professionals, looks set to be the second junior player after Mandeep Singh to secure a contract abroad.

He was very confident before the match started and kept his cool in the fifth set. “I never felt any pressure. I just concentrated on playing my natural game and thanks to a little bit of luck, was successful in the end,” he said.

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