The 22-year-old captain of Hyderabad Black Hawks SV Guru Prashanth is one of the young captains in the second season of the Prime Volleyball League.
Leading a young squad of Hyderabad Black Hawks were touted as an inexperienced unit but defeated Season 1 runners-up Ahmedabad Defenders in the first game. The team's target is to win the league and qualify for World Club Championship.
"We are taking this in a positive way, like last time we went to the semifinals and we have a big leap this year like the winners of this Prime League will participate in the World Club Championship so the whole club is working towards it like support Staffs and every player's captain everyone is working towards it and we will be hoping for a win this season," said Prashanth.
Guru hails from Tamil Nadu and has made over 10 appearances for the Indian national volleyball team. His top international achievements include playing for India at the Bahrain Championship 2018 and the Under-21 Asian Championship.
"Yeah, like this is a big tournament, so obviously tougher teams are there. It's very competitive so we are looking to take on every team in a way....like we are having certain plans for every team and we are trying to execute them to fullest. That's how we are trying to make it through," Prashanth said.
India organizes a lot of tournaments at the national level but with international players playing in the league, the level of exposure is very high.
" It's a big leap for Indian volleyball and for younger people like me to meet these many big shots of volleyball. There are foreign players and we are interacting with them and asking how they are doing, how we should play volleyball in a better way and are the Indian players capable of making it to the world stage.
"I used to ask Trent Rody, the foreign player of our team if the Indian players have the potential to make it to the world stage. He said you guys have so much potential and with more inputs, more practice and some systematic government (support) your guys can make it.So, this kind of motivates us obviously," Prashanth said.
Telecast of the league on leading sports network have helped these players reach every household.
Guru, who is currently playing for the Hyderabad Black Hawk, is multi managing his athletic career alongside pursing his education . Guru's father inspired him to take up the sport of volleyball . Other than volleyball , Guru also plays Taekwondo and his favourite athlete is Mohammad Ali. He hopes that PVL will help bring the right kind of awareness for the sport and help it grow.
"Most of the volleyball tournaments happening in India don't have so much exposure.....Rupay prime volleyball League, everyone is watching, even foreign clubs are watching as it is telecasted globally, so we can't compare this to any other league. So much exposure is given to the players, this league is making us volleyball players into stars," Prashanth said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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