Kochi Blue Spikers
Kochi Blue Spikers, commonly known as KBS, is a men's volleyball team from Kochi, Kerala playing in the Prime Volleyball League in India.[1] The team was founded in 2018 and owned by Muthoot Pappachan Group. The team had participated in the only season of the dissolved Pro Volleyball League in 2019 before it switched to Prime Volleyball League in 2021.[2]
| Founded | 2018 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | Thomas Muthoot | ||
| Manager | M. H. Kumara | ||
| Captain | Karthik A. | ||
| League | Prime Volleyball League | ||
| 2022 | 7th place | ||
| Uniforms | |||
| |||
History
2019 season
In mid-2018, Volleyball Federation of India along with Baseline Ventures, India invited bids for franchisees based in Indian cities for Pro Volleyball League. The league was given the go-ahead by FIVB. Thomas Muthoot of the Muthoot Pappachan Group won the bid for the Kochi franchisee in the Pro Volleyball League[3]
Blue Spikers picked India international Prabagaran as their icon player for 1.20 million rupees. They also secured the services of India Captain, Mohan Ukkrapandian. USA international David Lee, who has won both the Olympic Gold medal and the World cup was their foreign pick. Lee expressed his thrill to join Kochi and expected that the league will do a world of good to the players and its fans.[4]
Team
| Team roster 2024[5] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Name | Position | |||
| Jithin Neelathazha | Setter | ||||
| Lad Om Vasanth | Setter | ||||
| Ayush Pandey | Libero | ||||
| Ratheesh C K | Libero | ||||
| Abhinav BS | Blocker | ||||
| Athos Costa | Blocker | ||||
| Digvijay Singh | Blocker | ||||
| Sachin K | Blocker | ||||
| Aman Kumar | Attacker | ||||
| Erin Varghese | Attacker | ||||
| George Antony | Attacker | ||||
| Jan Krol | Attacker | ||||
| Jibin Sebastian | Attacker | ||||
| Vishal Krishna | Attacker | ||||
Administration and support staff
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Owner | M Liga Sports |
| Head coach | Vulicevic Dejan[6] |
| Assistant coach | Boby Xavier |
References
- "Kochi Blue Spikers are ready to shine!". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- "Kochi Blue Spikers | Pro Volleyball League Team". www.provolleyball.in.
- "Pro Volleyball League to start with 6 teams". Retrieved 8 February 2019.
- "Prabagaran to smash for Kochi blue spikers". Retrieved 8 February 2019.
- "Kochi Blue Spikers | Prime Volleyball League Team". www.primevolleyballleague.com.
- "Kochi's setters good for the PVL format, says coach Kumara". Sportstar. Retrieved 21 January 2022.