Chennai Spikers

News of the launch of the Chennai Spikers Volleyball Club in the Hindu

Monday amidst an ambience of gaiety and glamour, including a fashion show. It is among the six squads drawn from Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry, which are scheduled to participate in the first Indian Volleyball League (IVL) from May 29 at Bangalore

Based on the format of the successful IPL, this annual event of the Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) is programmed to catch the imagination of the public and prove profitable to the participating players.

Wishing the event and CSVC all success, the chief guest, P.W.C. Davidar, Managing Director, TN Salt Corporation, described the competition and its structure as “amazing.”

Earlier, Tamil Vendan, the Mentor of CSVC, outlined the factors that facilitated in the formation of the Club.

He explained the mission was to “play winning volleyball,” to win the hearts of the followers and give the game an image.

S. Vasudevan, Chairman and Managing Director, KAL Group of Companies, the owner of CSVC, said that the IVL was a dream come true and he was excited over the prospect of his team in the championship.

The co-sponsor, C. Sakthikumar, Director, Panimalar College of Engineering, announced that the CSVC would get Rs.15 lakhs if it won the event and Rs.7.5 lakhs if it finished as runner-up. He also clarified that the team would get a bonus of Rs.500 for the point margin, gained and lost.

Actor Srikanth presented the team's colours. Later the theme song of the squad was also released. K. Murugan, Secretary-General, Volleyball Federation of India, was felicitated along with other dignitaries.

The Chennai leg of the IVL is to be held at the JN Indoor Stadium from June 4.

The team: K.J. Kapil Dev, P. Sivabalan, Navjit Singh, Mandeep Singh, R. Kamaraj, S. Kanagaraj, K.G. Ragesh, Karthikeyan, V.K.Ansar, P. Rohit, Prabhakaran, and J. Nadarajan (captain). A. Venkatesan (head coach), P. Sundaram (assistant coach) and Jayakumar (manager).

Maratha Warriors

News about the Maratha Warriors in the DNA and in the Hindu

Maratha Warriors, led by India skipper and ace blocker G Pradeep, are confident of a good show in the inaugural six-team Indian Volleyball League that commences on May 29 in Bangalore.

“We have three senior players who took part in the last Asian Games in China (Guangzhou). We have a good team and we are capable of winning the title,” said the 6-foot, 8-inch Pradeep at a media conference here.

Along with Pradeep, from Customs, are his Asian Games team-mates Guruchand Singh, attacker, and setter Balwinder Singh, all members of the bronze winning Indian squad in the 2010 Asia Cup.

The team, coached by national women’s coach at the Guangzhou Games, D R Jadhav, has been promised a bonus of Rs 11 lakh if they go on to win the title by team owners Prachin Group from Panvel.

The average age of the players is 23 and average height is 1.94 m, chief coach Jadhav said.

The owners have also decided to have a junior squad as a feeder to the senior team going forward.

Hyderabad Chargers train

News of the Hyderabad Chargers in the Deccan Chronicle

The Federation picked a judicious mix of 60 players, including seniors and juniors, and drew lots to distribute them evenly across six franchises — Hyderabad Chargers, Chennai Spikers, Maratha Warriors, Kerala Killers, Karnataka Bulls and Yanam Tigers.

Now, there’s less than one week to go for the inaugural edition of the IVL to take off and the team from Hyderabad, the Hyderabad Chargers, are hard at work at the Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Indoor Stadium at Yousufguda.

The coach of the team, M.H. Kumara, a Sports Authority of India coach based out of Bengaluru, feels it’s not just talent that will determine the winner of the IVL, but a more cerebral factor.

“As far as talent is concerned, all the teams are more or less equal, but each team is playing 20 games, five each in Bengaluru, Chennai, Yanam and Hyderabad. So to maintain the level of intensity and competition for those many matches requires tremendous mental strength and will power. For the first season, I think it will be this factor that will separate the winner from the rest,” Kumara said.

Hyderabad skipper, Ukkrapandian, who also captains the national side, said his biggest challenge this year would be to get the members of his team to gel as a unit.

“We have seasoned players like Gurinder (Singh), Sube Singh, (Vinod) Negi and others. I have played with them quite a lot so we are comfortable with each other. But the challenge is to make these players get along with the younger ones who aren’t quite used to this level of exposure. If I can do that, I’m sure we’ll go all the way,” he said.

Indian Volley League launched

Finally efforts to get volleyball into the limelight of the Indian sports space have come to fruit, the Indian Volley League begins on May 29th at Bangalore.

Ambitious Indian league unveiled

Armed with lofty ambitions, the Volleyball Federation of India on Tuesday unveiled the teams, schedule, website and plans of its ambitious Indian Volley League.

The first leg of the six-team tournament, which the organisers hope will bring about a revolution and take the sport to greater heights in the country, will kick off at the Sree Kanteerava stadium here on May 29. “Volleyball is yet to taste the growth and success that cricket has,” said K Murugan, secretary general of the Volleyball Federation of India, at a press conference. “After a lot of planning, we’ve devised the IVL, which we hope will come as a breath of fresh air. This is just the start and I am confident the IVL will continue to grow.” The first leg will conclude in Bangalore on June 2 before moving to Chennai (June 4-8) and Yanam (June 12-16), and signing off in Hyderabad (June 20-24). The six teams in the fray are Karnataka Bulls, Chennai Spikers, Hyderabad Chargers, Kerala Killers, Yanam Tigers and Maratha Warriors. “We are hoping to sign in a broadcaster for live coverage. Doordarshan has demanded Rs 1.5 lakh only for the Bangalore leg, with different rates for the other legs. We are in talks with TEN Sports too. A decision will be made by Wednesday evening,” said Murugan. The total budget for the tournament is Rs 1.5 crore, with prize money alone totalling Rs 22.5 lakh. Each leg will have five individual awards, with all participants earning appearance money as well. A three-man selection panel comprising A Ramana Rao, G E Sridharan and Shyam Sundar Rao, all former internationals, handpicked and allocated players from a national pool to the six teams. The teams: Karnataka Bulls: Suresh Godara, J Thennarasan, N Shelton Moses, N Jagadeesh, A Vikram, TD Ravikumar, Imtiyaz Ahmed, M Vinod, Anup D’Costa, Sanjay Kumar, Dharshan, Dilip Khoiwal. Coach: Om Prakash. Asst coach: TC Jothish. Manager: Basavaraj CH. Chennai Spikers: KJ Kapil Dev, R Kamaraj, Navjit Singh, VK Ansar, Rohit P, Karthikeyan, Prabhakaran, KG Ragesh, Mandeep Singh, P Sivabalan, S Kanakaraj, J Nadarajan. Coach: A Venkatesan. Asst coach: P Sundaram. Manager: Jayakumar. Hyderabad Chargers: M Ukkrapandian, Kasi Viswanadha Raju, Sube Singh, Deepesh K Sinha, Narendra Kumar, Lalit Kumar, S Karthik, Gurinder Singh, VR Sanoj, Vinod Negi, Lanmeet Katariya, T Naresh. Coach: MH Kumara. Asst coach: Koteswara Rao. Manager: Murali Mohan. Kerala Killers: Jayalal, Manu V, GR Vaishnav, G Vinayender, Jinson Varghese, Naveen Raja Jacob, Vivek Singh,  Ravinder Reddy, KP Shaheem, Sudarshan BH Varma, Kiran Philip, Shamji K Thomas. Coach: KA Nazer. Trainer: Abhijit Bhatacharjee. Manager: KR Vijay Anand. Yanam Tigers: M Thulasi Reddy, Ranjit Singh, Y Subba Rao, D Soundar, R Sathish Kumar, V John Christopher, M Ch R Krishnam Raju, PS Sreekanth, Tom Joseph, P Kalaivanan, Rabindra Murdi, Ashok SS. Coach: Muthukesavalu. Asst coach: S Mohd Jinha. Manager: Subbanna. Maratha Warriors: Balwinder Singh, Anil Kumar Edelli, G Pradeep, T Azeez, Bhaskar P Buchade, Gurchand Singh, Jitender Kumar, Omvir Mann, D Selva Prabhu, R Rajkumar, Surender Kumar, Amay D Kulkarni. Coach: DR Jadhav. Asst coach: Ajit Patil. IVL factfile * Total budget: Rs 1.5 crore * Prize money: 22.5 lakhs * Schedule: First leg: Bangalore (May 29-June 2) * Second leg: Chennai (Jun 4-8). * Third leg: Yanam (Jun 12-16). * Fourth leg: Hyderabad (June 20-24).