Here’s a look at each of the teams:
7 franchises ready for a big fight
Seven franchises namely Calicut Heroes, Kochi Blue Spikers, Ahmedabad Defenders, Hyderabad Black Hawks, Chennai Blitz, Bengaluru Torpedoes and Kolkata Thunderbolts will compete for the trophy from February 5, 2022 to February 27, 2022. The tournament will consist of 24 matches. Hyderabad Black Hawks take on Kochi Blue Spikers in the first match. All teams will play the other teams once each before the top four teams qualify for the semi-finals. The knockouts will be played on February 24, 2022 and February 25, 2022.
Ahmedabad Defenders
The Ahmedabad defenders will have the services of an excellent setter in Muthusamy and will be backed by middle blocker Manoj LM. Americans Ryan Meehan (blocker) and Rodrigo Villalboa from Argentina (attacker). The rest of the team consists of Hardeep Singh, Shaun T John, S Santosh, Prabhakaran P, Saju Prakash Mayal, Prasanna Raja AA, Choudhary Harsh and Angmuthu.
Bangalore Torpedo
Bengaluru Torpedoes meanwhile will see the experienced Ranjit Singh (captain and setter) and Pankaj Sharma (attacker) take the field for the team and will be backed by American players – Noah Tatano (Universal) and Kyle Friend (attacker). The rest of the team’s make-up consists of Rohit P, Varun GS, B Midhun Kumar, Sarang Santhilal, Lavmeet Kataria, Sarajan U Shetty, Ranjit Singh, Vinayak Rokhde and Ganesh K.
Hyderabad Black Hawks
Hyderabad Black Hawks will take veteran attacker Amit Gulia to the center stage for the franchise and will be backed by setters Hariharan V and Vipul Kumar. The Hyderabad team is also strengthened by international personnel in Luis Antonio Arias Guzmán from Venezuela (Universal) and Henri Bell from Cuba (attackers). Rest of the team consists of Rohit Kumar, George Antony, Anand K, Sudhir Shetty, John Joseph EJ, Jishnu PV, Praful S and SV Guru Prashant.
Hero of Calicut
The star pair of Jerome Vinith (Universal) and Ajitlal C (Attacking) will lead the charge for Calicut Heroes and will draw tremendous support from USA internationals in Olympic gold medalists David Lee (Blocker) and Aaron Koubi (Attacking). The rest of the squad consists of Abil Krishnan MP, Vishal Krishna PS, Vignesh Raj D, R Ramanathan, Arjun Nath LS, Mujeeb MC, Jitin N, Lal Sujan MV, Arun Zakarias Sibi and Ansab O.
Chennai Blitz
Chennai Blitz will have the services of experienced players – Ukarpandian Mohan (captain and setter), Akhin GS (middle blocker) and Naveen Raja Jacob (attacker). He has also pitched his side alongside international players from Fernando David González Rodriguez of Venezuela (attacker) and Bruno da Silva of the USA (attacker). The rest of the team consists of Amit, Ajmath Ulla, Kanagaraj, GR Vaishnav, Abhilash Choudhary, Mohit Bhim Sehrawat, Pinamma Prashanth, Amitsinh Kaptansinh Tanwar and Jobin Varghese.
Kochi Blue Spikers
Captain Karthik Madhu (middle blocker) will lead the Kochi Blue Spikers in the Indian national team’s previous tournament. He will be supported by veteran middle blocker Deepesh Kumar Sinha. He has also extended his side with international players – Colton Cowell (attacker) and Cody Caldwell (attacker) of the United States. The rest of the team consists of Raison Bennett Rebello, Sethu TR, Erin Varghese, Darshan S Gowda, C Venu, Abhinav BS, Dushyant GN, Prashant Kumar Saroha, Asha A and Abdul Rahim.
Kolkata Thunderbolts
Kolkata Thunderbolts will have the services of experienced players – Aswal Rai (Captain and Middle Blocker) and Vineet Kumar (Universal), who will be backed by international players in Matthew August (Blocker) and Ian Satterfield (Universal) from USA. Rest of the team consists of Anu James, Tharun Gowda K, Mohammad Riazuddin, Rahul K, Hari Prasad BS, Mohammad Shafiq, Aravindan S and Janshad U.
Speaking ahead of the launch of volleyball in India, Tuhin Mishra, Co-Founder and MD, Baseline Ventures said, “We are far from a huge opportunity not only in Indian volleyball, but in Indian sport as a whole. We have waited for a long time to provide a platform to many talented volleyball players where they can showcase their talent and hence we are looking forward to start the tournament. We are expecting a cracker of the tournament and we hope all the players will do their best during the tournament. I would like to wish all the franchises all the best for the competition.”
So, sit on your couch and tune into the RuPay Prime Volleyball League powered by A23, live and exclusive in February on Sony Ten 1, Sony Ten 2 (Malayalam), Sony Ten 3 (Hindi) and Sony Ten 4 (Tamil and Telugu) . 5, 2022, onwards.
RuPay Prime Volleyball League: 13 Sponsors in Season 1
RuPay Prime Volleyball League is marketed exclusively by Baseline Ventures, the country’s leading sports marketing firm. RuPay, India’s first of its kind global card payments network, has joined as the title sponsor of RuPay Prime Volleyball. League and fantasy games leaders A23 have signed on as “powered by” sponsors to a multi-year deal. Byju’s, Cred, Dafa News, Eatfit, Amul Cool and Nippon Paint have joined as associate sponsors and COSCO and Apollo Hospitals have joined the RuPay Prime Volleyball League as official partners. ShareChat and Moj are the official content partners of RuPay Prime Volleyball League.
Disclaimer: This article is produced by Times Internet’s Spotlight Team on behalf of RuPay Prime Volleyball League.
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