NEW DELHI: As the Inaugural edition of the Pro Volleyball League draws closer, the league added six more international players for the first season.
With this, each team filled their quota of 2 foreign players in the squad of 12 and are all set for the first edition of the league starting 2nd February.
The newest franchise based sports league of India is an initiative of Baseline Ventures and Volleyball Federation of India and will see six teams from six cities vying for the title in the first season.
In the second draft of the Pro Volleyball League, Russia's Victor Sysoev was picked by Ahmedabad Defenders, Slovakian Adrej Patuc by Kochi Blue Spikers, Canada's Nicholas Del Bianco by U Mumba Volley, Latvian Ruskans Sorokins by Chennai Spartans, Canada's Alex Bader by Black Hawks Hyderabad and Republic of Congo's Illouni Ngampourou by Calicut Heroes.
Talking about the new set of international players joining the league, Tuhin Mishra, MD and co-founder of Baseline Ventures, said: “We have added some fantastic international players to the league. These names have years of playing experience across the globe and carry tremendous repute with their respective teams. With the second set of international player draft completed, all the teams have full-fledged and balanced squads with a specialist player in every position.”
The first draft of the international players took place during the players auction in New Delhi last month. Carson Clarke was picked by Black Hawks Hyderabad, Paul Lotman by Calicut Heroes, Rudy Verheoff by Chennai Spartans, Tomislav Coskovic by U-Mumba Volley, David Lee by Kochi Blue Spikers and Novica Bjielica by Ahmedabad Defenders.
Ahmedabad Defenders is owned by Bonhomie Sports Event Mgmt. Ltd., Kerala's Calicut Heroes is owned by Beacon Sports while the Chennai Spartans is owned by Chennai Spartans Pvt. Ltd. U Mumba Volley is owned by U Sports, who also own a team in the Pro Kabaddi League while Black Hawks Hyderabad is owned by Agile Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Thomas Muthoot owns the Kochi franchise called the Kochi Blue Spikers.
Pro Volleyball League’s first season will be held in two volleyball hotbeds of India i.e. Kochi (Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium) and Chennai (Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium). Each of the six teams will have 12 players including two foreign players and two Indian U-21 players. The league will be played over a total of 18 matches with each team playing each other once in a round-robin format and the top four teams qualifying for the semi-finals. All the matches will be broadcasted live on Sony Six and Sony Ten 3 and will be streamed live on Sony LIV.
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