Pro Volleyball League: Ahmedabad Defenders faces Black Hawks Hyderabad

Ahmedabad Defenders, which has three internationals in its ranks, will take on the youngest side in the Pro Volleyball League, the Black Hawks Hyderabad.

Ahmedabad Defenders captain Ranjit Singh is confident that his team has an edge over Hyderabad.

Ahmedabad Defenders is all set to begin its campaign against the Black Hawks Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kochi on Feb 4 2019 in RuPay Pro Volleyball League.

Ahmedabad Defenders will be banking on its experience with G.R Vaishnav and Gurinder Singh from the Indian national team set up and Serbian International Novika Bjelica in the ranks.

Black Hawks Hyderabad captain Carson Clark.

 

Speaking on the eve of its first match Ahmedabad Defenders captain, Ranjit Singh said, “I feel the league is giving an opportunity to all the players to showcase what we are capable of to a larger audience. As far as our first match goes, I believe that we have a slight advantage as our team is more experienced and that plays a key role."

The league, which is an initiative of Baseline Ventures and Volleyball Federation of India, began on February 2 where Kochi Blue Spikers beat U Mumba Volley 4-1 on Day 1.

Read: Kochi Blue Spikers too strong for U Mumba Volley

Black Hawks Hyderabad will have a point to prove being the youngest team of the league with more than five players below the age of 23.

Skipper Carson Clark felt that the league is extremely exciting and different from anything he has experienced before. “The format is really interesting and nothing is known to us from the beginning so all we can do is focus on ourselves and the way we approach the game. We are all very excited about the first match and the team will only get better after every match. We shouldn’t forget that the key focus is to win the championship in the end.” said Clark.

 

Six franchises will be vying for the RuPay Pro Volleyball League title in the first edition. 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 Kabaddi league while Black Hawks Hyderabad is owned by Agile Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Thomas Muthoot owns the Kochi franchise called the Kochi Blue Spikers. 

The match will be broadcast live on SONY SIX and SONY TEN 3 and will be streamed live on SONY LIV from 7:00 PM IST on Feb 4 2019.