The RuPay Prime Volley Season 2 Player Auction was held on 13th October at Hyatt Regency in Kolkata. Eight teams competed to make the best possible squad, comprising 12 players including two international stars.
Earlier this year, teams were also given the option to retain a maximum of three players from their RuPay Prime Volley Season 1 squad. The international players were picked via a two-round draft system, where the team that made the first pick in Round 1 would pick last in Round 2 and vice versa. Over 500 Indian volleyball players had registered for Season 2, which is a testament to the growth of the league, the sport and the confidence the players have in the league.
Hyderabad Black Hawks began the auction proceedings by picking Australian blocker Trent O’Dea in the international players draft. Brazilian attacker Renato Mendes made his way to Chennai Blitz next while Kochi Blue Spikers, Calicut Heroes, Bengaluru Torpedoes and Kolkata Thunderbolts followed suit. The newest team, Mumbai Meteors, picked American attacker Brandon Greenway, while Iran’s Danial Moatazedi made his way to Ahmedabad Defenders to conclude the first round of the draft.
Ahmedabad Defenders and Mumbai Meteors made their picks in the second round. This was followed by former Kochi Blue Spikers attacker Cody Caldwell being picked by champions Kolkata Thunderbolts in an exciting move. On the other hand, Alireza Abalooch, an attacker from Iran, was picked by Bengaluru Torpedoes. Calicut Heroes picked USA’s Matt Hilling followed by Kochi Blue Spikers laying their hands on Brazilian blocker Walter Da Cruz Neto. Chennai Blitz and Hyderabad Black Hawks made the final picks of the International Draft.
The 500+ Indian players were divided into four categories with different base prices namely, Platinum (₹8 lakhs), Gold (₹5 lakhs), Silver (₹3 lakhs) and Bronze (₹2 lakhs). It all started off with in-demand attacker Rohit Kumar being secured by Kochi Blue Spikers for a whopping ₹17.5 lakhs, making him the most expensive player in RuPay Prime Volley history.
Ranjit Singh (setter) and Chirag Yadav (attacker) also secured top-notch deals for ₹12.25 lakhs each, moving to Hyderabad Black Hawks and Calicut Heroes respectively. Setter Vipul Kumar along with attacker Karthik A were the other players securing 7-figure deals.
Here’s a look at the full squad lists:
I = International Players
R = Retained Players
Ahmedabad Defenders
Andrew Kohut James (I), Danial Moatazedi (I), L M Manoj, Angamuthu, Nandhagopal S, Parth Patel, Aswath, Harsh Chaudhary, T Shrikant, Shon T John (R), S Santosh (R), Muthusamy (R)
Bengaluru Torpedoes
Alireza Abalooch (I), Sebastian Giraldo (I), Sethu TR, Mujeeb MC, Jishnu PV, Ibin Jose, Nisam Muhammed A, Sudheer Shetty, Gokulnath, Pankaj Sharma (R), Vinayak Rokhade (R), B Midhun Kumar (R)
Calicut Heroes
Matt Hilling (I), Jose Antonio Sandoval Rojas (I), M Ashwin Raj, Prabakaran, Chirag Yadav, Mohan Ukkrapandian, Lavmeet Katariya, Shafeeque Rahman, Sushil Kumar, Ansab O, Abil Krishnan (R), Jerome Vinith (R)
Chennai Blitz
Moyo Audran (I), Renato Mendes (I), Mohamed Riyazudeen, Ramanathan R, Prasanna Raja AA, Raman Kumar, Tushar Laware, Y V Sita Rama Raju, Jobin Varughese, Naveen Raja Jacob (R), Akhin GS (R), Pinamma Prashant (R)
Hyderabad Black Hawks
Trent O'Dea (I), Carlos Andres Llanos Zamora (I), Ranjit Singh, Varun G S, Ashamatullah, Saurabh Maan, Lal Sujan MV, Arun Zacharias Siby, Hemanth P, Guru Prasanth (R), John Joseph E J (R), Anand K (R)
Kochi Blue Spikers
Walter Da Cruz Neto (I), Eduardo Romay (I), Rohit Kumar, Vipul Kumar, George Antony, Fayis NK, Aswin Rag VT, Pavan Ramesh, Jibin Sebastian, Erin Varghese (R), Dushyanth GN (R), C Venu (R)
Kolkata Thunderbolts
Jose Verdi (I), Cody Caldwell (I), Rahul K, Deepesh Sinha, Hariharan V, Anush, Hari Prasad B S, Suryansh Tomar, Abhilash Chaudhary, Ashwal Rai (R), Vinit Kumar (R), Janshad U (R)
Mumbai Meteors
Hiroshi Centelles (I), Brandon Greenway (I), Karthik A, Hardeep Singh, Amit Gulia, Rohith P, Abdul Raheem, Ratheesh C K, Jithin N, Anu James (R), Shameem (R), Aravindhan S (R)
