Kochi, Dec 14 (Sports News) Indian volleyball stars Ashwal Rai, Karthik A and Jerome Vinith attracted the highest bids of Rs 15 lakh each at the Prime Volleyball Auction and were picked by Kolkata Thunderbolts, Kochi Blue Spikers and the Calicut Heroes respectively, here on Tuesday.

A total of 24 players in the Platinum and Gold categories went under the hammer in the first session of the day as the seven franchises – the Calicut Heroes, Kochi Blue Spikers, Ahmedabad Defenders, Hyderabad Black Hawks, Chennai Blitz, Bengaluru Torpedoes and the Kolkata Thunderbolts vied for the best talent.

Each of the franchises can select a total of 14 players for their squads, including 12 Indian and two international players.

While the Indian players were picked through the auction, the teams acquired international players through the International Player Draft, which had a pool of 14 players, officials said in a release.

"The Calicut Heroes acquired international players – Aaron Koubi from France (attacker), American David Lee (blocker) and Indian players – Ajithlal C (attacker – Rs. 8.5 lakh) and Jerome Vinith (Universal – Rs. 15 lakh)," officials said.

Kochi Blue Spikers picked up international players Colton Cowell (attacker) and Cody Caldwell (attacker) from USA and Indian players Deepesh Kumar Sinha (Blocker – Rs. 10.75 lakh) and Karthik A (Blocker – Rs. 15 lakh), they said.

Ahmedabad Defenders bolstered their side with American Ryan Meehan (blocker), Rodrigo Villalboa from Argentina (attacker) and Indians Muthusamy (Setter – Rs. 10 lakh), Hardeep Singh (Attacker – Rs. 4.4 lakh), Shon T John (Attacker – 7.25 lakh), Manoj LM (Middle Blocker – Rs. 7.25 lakh) and Prabakaran P (LIBERO – Rs. 4 lakh).

Hyderabad Black Hawks acquired Luis Antonio Arias Guzman from Venezuela (Universal), Henry Bell from Cuba (attacker) and Indian players Hariharan V (Setter – Rs. 5 lakh), Vipul Kumar (Setter – Rs. 4.5 lakh), Rohit Kumar (attacker – Rs. 5.3 lakh) and Amit Gulia (attacker – Rs. 10 lakh), the release said.

Chennai Blitz picked up Fernando David Gonzalez Rodriguez from Venezuela (Attacker), Bruno Da Silva from Brazil (Attacker) and Indian players Akhin GS (Middle Blocker – Rs. 9.75 lakh), Naveen Raja Jacob (Attacker – Rs. 8 lakh), Ukkrapandian Mohan (Setter – Rs. 7.75 lakh), GR Vaishnav (Middle Blocker – Rs. 4 lakh), Bengaluru Torpedoes acquired Noah Taitano from USA (Universal), Kyle Friend also from USA (Attacker) and Indian players Ranjit Singh (Setter – Rs. 4.4 lakh), Pankaj Sharma (Attacker – Rs. 7.5 lakh), Lavmeet Katariya (Middle Blocker – Rs. 4.6 lakh), Rohith P (Middle Blocker – Rs. 7.5 lakh) and B Midhun Kumar (LIBERO – Rs. 5.6 lakh).

Kolkata Thunderbolts picked up Matthew August from USA (Blocker), Ian Satterfield also from USA (Universal) and Indian players Vinit Kumar (Universal – Rs. 8.75 lakh) and Ashwal Rai (Middle Blocker – Rs. 15 lakh).

Over 300 players in the U-21, Silver and Bronze categories were grabbed by the franchises in another session of the day.

Joy Bhattacharya, CEO, Prime Volleyball League said, "Getting off to a good start is always important and we are ecstatic with the way the events have unfolded today. All the franchises have picked their squads smartly and there's still some more players to be acquired in the next session." 

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News Source : PTI