Baseline Ventures-backed Prime Volleyball League has announced that the auction for Indian and international players across its seven franchises is slated for Tuesday. The league has teams like Calicut Heroes, Kochi Blue Spikers, Ahmedabad Defenders, Hyderabad Black Hawks, Chennai Blitz, Bengaluru Torpedoes and the Kolkata Thunderbolts.
The event will aeewith over 400 players up for auction. Each of the franchises can select a total of 14 players and would include 12 Indian and two international players.
Indian volleyball players like Ashwal Rai, Ajithlal C, Akhin GS, Deepesh Kumar Sinha, Jerome Vinith, Karthik A, Naveen Raja Jacob and Vinit Kumar have been slotted in the platinum category, while the gold, silver and bronze categories will feature 33, 141 and 205 players respectively. A total of 23 players will also go under the hammer in the under-21 category.
International players including David Lee from the US and Luis Antonio Arias Guzman from Venezuela, will feature in its international player draft during the auction.
Tuhin Mishra, co-founder and managing director of Baseline Ventures — a sports marketing firm — said it is looking forward to witnessing the franchises construct their squads at the auction this week.
Joy Bhattacharya, CEO of the league added, there are a number of talented emerging volleyball players in India, and the company was pleased to provide them the opportunity to play alongside some international level volleyball players. “The auction is the start of the volleyball revolution we have envisioned for India and we cannot wait for the action to unfold on Tuesday,” he said.
The league announced the names of head coaches for each of the franchises for the upcoming season next year. It said Ahmedabad Defenders will be coached by Sajjad Hussain and S Dakshinamoorthy; Bengaluru Torpedoes will be led by KR Lakshminarayana; Calicut Heroes by Kishor Kumar; Chennai Blitz by Chander Singh; Hyderabad Black Hawks by Ruben Wolochin; Kochi Blue Spikers by MH Kumara and Kolkata Thunderbolts by Sunny Joseph.
The league will be telecast on the Sony Pictures Network and is marketed by Baseline Ventures. It will consist of 24 games.
The global volleyball market was valued at $261.1 million in 2019. The market size will reach $270.5 million by the end of 2026, growing at a CAGR of 0.5% during 2021-2026.
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