Bigger prize purse the main attraction

Ravikumar-led BSNL aim to retain title

Led by India junior captain T D Ravikumar, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will look to retain their crown in the 2014 edition of the Karnataka Volleyball League (KVL), which gets underway here on Saturday with a bigger prize fund across the board.

BSNL, who were winners in the previous edition held in 2012, will face stiff competition from DYES, Postal, MEG, Karnataka Volleyball Club (KVC) and JSW in the competition that will be held over five phases at different centres.

DYES and Postal, with a clutch of talented spikers in their ranks, will be looking to unseat BSNL. Star player Anup D Costa will be the one to watch out for in the DYES ranks. Giving him company will be the likes of Suraj G Nayak, Shravan Rao, Shravan Yadav and Vinayak Rokde, who have all represented India at the junior level.

Rajasthan’s Lovemeet Kataria will lead the charge for Postal while Karnataka State Police, who are the ‘A’ Division champions, will skip the meet as they will be taking part in the all-India Police meet.

KVA general secretary K Nandakumar felt with teams allowed to field a maximum of four outstation players, it will be an even competition. “I feel all the teams have a good chance as every team will have national players competing for them,’’ Nandakumar said.

An increased prize purse of Rs 12.5 lakh, as compared to Rs 8 lakh in the previous edition, along with appearance money will be the big attraction for players in the league that will run upto March 16.

The first phase will be held from January 25 to 29 at the Chamundeshwari grounds in Jayanagar and will be organised by the Atlanta Sports Club. Youngsters Kabaddi Club will play host to the second phase from February 12 to 16 at the Kodandaramapura grounds.

The third phase will be at the Nehru Stadium in Shimoga from February 19 to 23 and hosted by the Shimoga District Volleyball Association and Apex Bank while the fourth leg will be conducted by Hoysala Youth & Sports Association at the Hoysala grounds, Kumaraswamy Layout, Bangalore.

The fifth and final leg of the event will be at the Sree Kanteerava indoor stadium here.
Each of the first four centres will dole out a purse of Rs 2,35,000 that includes prize money for the first four placings, appearance money of Rs 60,000 and a prize money of Rs 5000 for winners of each of the 15 matches.

Stakes will be a lot higher in the final leg with a total prize money of Rs 3,10,000 on offer, where the top four teams will be richer by Rs 1,50,000 along with appearance money of Rs 60,000, the best player (attacker, blocker, all-rounder, libero, setter) getting Rs 5,000 each and winner of each match taking home Rs 5,000.