Prime Volleyball League Auctions 2022: Rohit Kumar, Ranjit Singh, Chirag Yadav earn big

Attacker Rohit Kumar was acquired for the highest bid of Rs 17.5 lakhs by Kochi Blue Spikers at the second edition of Prime Volleyball League auctions which took place in Kolkata on Thursday.

Ahmedabad Defenders at the Prime Volleyball League auctions on Thursday. | Photo Credit: Twitter | @Prime Volleyball League

More than 90 players were sold between eight franchises after the bidding ended at the second edition of Prime Volleyball League auctions which took place in Kolkata on Thursday.

With 531 players registering their names this time for the auctions, the second season of PVL, is touted to be even bigger and better this time around. 

At the auctions, the teams acquired International players through the PVL international player draft, which had a pool of 16 players. 

The Indian players being picked through the player auctions, are divided into four categories according to their base price - Platinum (Base price: Rs 8 lakh), Gold (Base price: Rs 5 lakh), Silver (Base price: Rs 3 lakh), and Bronze (Base price: Rs 2 lakh).

Attacker Rohit Kumar was acquired for the highest bid of Rs 17.5 lakhs by Kochi Blue Spikers, while the 34-year-old setter Ranjit Singh and young attacker Chirag Yadav were bought at Rs 12.25 lakhs by Hyderabad Black Hawks and Calicut Heroes, respectively.

Joy Bhattacharya, CEO, Prime Volleyball League, said, “We expected a thunderous response at the auctions after the success of our first edition, and yet it has been absolutely fantastic to see that they have still managed to exceed all our expectations this year. “

“All the franchises came prepared with clear strategies in mind on which players they want to include in their team set-up. It is always exciting to see fresh squads being formed and I am confident the upcoming season will be an action-packed one,” he added.

Tuhin Mishra, Co-Founder & MD, Baseline Ventures, said, “I think the auctions were phenomenal and a great success. All the teams came prepared with strategies and it was fantastic to see how much everyone in the country is getting invested in the sport. We have expanded ourselves this season with a new team this time, and there were plenty of fresh faces who came in for the first time in the auction pool and earned big bucks. It was great to see the excitement of all the franchises at the auctions, and these are signs of a revolution in the sport of volleyball.”

For season 2, which is expected to commence in early 2023, the commercial arm of global body of Volleyball (Fédération Internationale de Volley Ball, FIVB), Volleyball World has joined hands with PVL coming on board as the International streaming partners in a multiyear association.

FULL PLAYERS LIST

Ahmedabad Defenders

Retained: Muthusamy Appavu (Setter), Shon T John (Attacker), S Santhosh (Attacker)

Players bought at auction: Danial Moatazedi (Middle Blocker), Andrew Kohut James (Attacker), L M Manoj (Middle blocker), Angamuthu (Universal), Aswath (Setter), Nandhagopal S (Attacker), Harsh Chaudhary (Universal), Parth Patel (Middle Blocker), T Shrikant (Universal)

Bengaluru Torpedoes

Retained: Pankaj Sharma (Attacker), B Midhun Kumar (Libero), Vinayak Rokhade (Setter)

Players bought at auction: Alireza Abalooch (Attacker), Sebastian Giraldo (Attacker), Sethu TR (Attacker), Ibin Jose (Universal), Jishnu P V (Middle Blocker), Mujeeb MC (Middle Blocker), Nisam Muhammed A (Attacker), Sudheer Shetty (Middle Blocker), Gokulnath (Setter)

Calicut Heroes

Retained: Jerome Vinith (Universal), Abil Krishnan MP (Attacker)

Players bought at auction: Jose Antonio Sandoval Rojas (Middle Blocker), Matt Hilling (Attacker), M Ashwin Raj (Attacker), Chirag Yadav (Attacker), Mohan Ukkrapandian (Setter), Shafeeque Rahman (Middle Blocker), Lavmeet Katariya (Middle Blocker), Ansab O (Universal), Prabakaran (Libero), and Sushil Kumar (Setter)

Chennai Blitz

Retained: Akhin GS (Blocker), Naveen Raja Jacob (Attacker), Pinamma Prashanth (Setter)

Players bought at auction: Moyo Audran (Attacker), Renato Mendes (Attacker), Prasanna Raja (Setter), Mohamed Riyazudeen (Attacker), Ramanathan R (Libero), Raman Kumar (Attacker), Jobin Varughese (Universal), Tushar Laware (Middle Blocker), Y V Sita Rama Raju (Middle Blocker)

Hyderabad Black Hawks

Retained: Guru Prashanth (Universal), John Joseph EJ (Blocker), Anand K (Libero)

Players bought at auction: Carlos Andres Llanos Zamora (Attacker), Trent O'Dea (Middle Blocker), Ranjit Singh (Setter), Lal Sujan MV (Setter), Ashamatullah (Attacker), Arun Zacharias Siby (Universal), Saurabh Maan (Middle Blocker), Hemanth P (Attacker), Varun GS (Attacker)

Kochi Blue Spikers

Retained: Erin Varghese (Attacker), Venu C (Libero), Dushyanth GN (Blocker)

Players bought at auction: Eduardo Romay (Attacker), Walter Da Cruz Neto (Middle Blocker), Rohit Kumar (Attacker), Vipul Kumar (Setter), Fayis NK (Middle Blocker), Pavan Ramesh (Setter), Ashwin Rag VT (Attacker), Jibin Sebastian (Universal), George Antony (Attacker)

Mumbai Meteors

Bought at formation: Anu James (Attacker)

Players bought at auction: Brandon Greenway (Attacker), Hiroshi Centelles (Attacker), Karthik A. (Middle Blocker), Amit Gulia (Attacker), Hardeep Singh (Attacker), Rohith P (Middle-Blocker), Jithin N (Setter), Abdul Raheem (Universal), Ratheesh CK (Libero), Shameem (Blocker), Aravindhan S (Setter)

Kolkata Thunderbolts

Retained: Ashwal Rai (Attacker), Vinit Kumar (Universal), Janshad U (Setter)

Players bought at auction: Cody Caldwell (Attacker), Jose Verdi (Middle Blocker), Rahul K (Attacker), Hariharan V (Setter), Deepesh Sinha (Middle Blocker), Anush (Attacker), Suryansh Tomar (Attacker), Abhilash Chaudhary (Middle Blocker), Hari Prasad B S (Attacker)