Arikapudi Ramana Rao is a former Indian Volleyball Player. He was born on 1st July 1945 in Chamallamudi village of Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh. Arikapudi Ramana Rao is also the receiver of both the Arjuna Award for the year 1977-1978 and Dronacharya Award for the year 1990-1991.

Sports Career of Arikapudi Ramana Rao
Arikapudi Ramana Rao started playing volleyball after joining the college. His college days gave him a scope to play volleyball. He graduated from Hindu College, Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh in the year 1966.

From the year 1966 to 1976, Arikapudi Ramana Rao participated in the National Volleyball Championships. He was also the captain of Tamil Nadu Volleyball Team. He played as a Captain for consecutively four years. He played for the Tamil Nadu State team which won the National Volleyball Championship title for the first time at Tiruchirapalli in the year 1976.

Arikapudi Ramana Rao was the Head Coach for the Indian men`s volleyball team at the Asian Volleyball Championships at Perth in the year 1991. He was also the first Indian volleyball coach to qualify as FIVB Instructor in the German Democratic Republic in 1986 and went on to conduct the International Coaches Courses in India and abroad. He was nominated as a Member AVC Coaches Committee of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) from the year 1993-1997.

Arikapudi Ramana Rao is listed as the Director of the FIVB Regional Development Centre of Chennai. Currently, Arikapudi Ramana Rao is the President of Andhra Pradesh Volleyball Association. Arikapudi Ramana Rao is the Chairman of Coaching Committee of Volleyball Federation of India (VFI). This is a non-private and non- governmental organisation responsible for monitoring the volleyball in India. Volleyball Federation of India was formed in the year 1951. Volleyball in India was controlled by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and at that time the Interstate Volleyball Championship was held every two years from 1936 to 1950 for men only. The first Championship was held in the year 1936 at Lahore. In 1951, Volleyball Federation of India was formed to regulate the guidelines and the administration related to volleyball. The first meeting of Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) was held in Ludhiana, which is now located in Punjab, India.