Kolkata, February 16th, 2024: Season 1 Champions Kolkata Thunderbolts started their third season of the RuPay Prime Volleyball League powered by A23 with a 14-16, 16-14, 13-15 and 10-15 loss against Bengaluru Torpedoes at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on Thursday.
Speaking after the match and reflecting back on what went wrong, head coach Rahman Mohammadrad said, “During pre-season camp in Mysore, all the players in the squad trained exceptionally well so keeping that in mind, I expected a bit more from the team. However, I believe my team has potential to be the best from what I saw yesterday. They have the fighting spirit and the motivation to win match. They just need to be focused.”
Kolkata Thunderbolts next face against last season’s winners, Ahmedabad Defenders, who are coming on back of a sensational win against Chennai Blitz in their opening match. Talking about how he plans to approach this game, Mohammadrad said, “All nine teams in the league are really good and have enough power to become the champions. We cannot take any match lightly, so for us every match is like a final and we will plan for every match accordingly. Ahmedabad Defenders are a strong squad but we will put up our best performance against them and I hope the result will be in our favour.”
The coach from Iran also expressed his thoughts on Ashwal Rai leading the Kolkata Thunderbolts from the front. He shared, “Ashwal has a lot of experience in this capacity. Everyone in our team look up to him. He is a true leader and is always inspiring the players around him to give their best. I am extremely happy to see him as a captain of our team.”
Following the success of the first two seasons, the third season of the ‘Asli Entertainer’ RuPay Prime Volleyball League powered by A23 will be aired on Sony Sports Network in five languages – English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Fans can anticipate another thrilling season of RuPay Prime Volleyball League powered by A23 and experience the excitement of top-tier teams battle it out on the volleyball court starting 15th February 2024, 6:30 PM onwards, Live on Sony Sports Network and will be available to livestream on SonyLiv.
For Information on players, fixtures, teams, and statistics, click here: https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/prime-volleyball-league/
Image Credits: RuPay Prime Volleyball League
(This story has not been edited by News Mania staff and is published from a Media Release)
