Ranchi, May 14: The IPL frenzy seems to have rubbed off with state volleyball officials, with the general body of the Jharkhand Volleyball Association mulling a slam-bang version of the sports in November-December this year.
Christened Jharkhand Volleyball Premier League, the tourney will be played at the Ranchi University Recreation centre and will have cash prizes worth Rs 1,50,000 on offer.
While the tournament winners will walk away with a cool Rs 50,000, the runners-up will pocket Rs 30,000. The teams finishing third, fourth, fifth and sixth will walk home with Rs 25,000, Rs 20,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively.
“We borrowed the idea and are largely thankful to the BCCI’s idea of coming out with the IPL. This tournament will infuse some money into the game and we hope that it makes the game more popular,” Jharkhand Volleyball Association general secretary Sekhar Bose said after the annual general meeting of the body today.
According to initial plans, the tournament will have 200 volleyball players who will be picked up by six franchisees. Of the players who would be auctioned off, sixty per cent will be from Jharkhand and the remaining forty per cent from Bihar.
This apart, Sunil Sahay, the working president of Jharkhand Volleyball Association and the younger brother of Subodh Kant Sahay, has been made the chairman of a six-member committee, comprising Ajit Sahay, Rajhans Mishra, Pramod Kumar, Adil Hussain and Satanka Sen, which will work out the nitty gritties of the tournament.
The volleyball association at the meeting today also decided to bid for the 2012-13 national volleyball championship that will be sponsored by Tata Iron and Steel Company.
“Two Under-18 players — one boy and a girl — will be awarded scholarships of Rs 1,000 each per month under the Late Braj Deo Sahay scholarship and as Late Indrani Sahay scholarships,” Sahay announced.
He added that the body would also distribute 200 volleyballs and 100 nets among the district volleyball associations to help them promote the game.
“The Jharkhand Volleyball Association general body also decided to establish a Jharkhand Volleyball Development and Coaching Centre at McLuskiegunj on a two-acre plot,” Bose said.
He added that a committee comprising Jharkhand Volleyball Association president R.K. Anand, Assembly speaker C.P. Singh, Sunil Sahay, former MP Ram Tahal Choudhary, B. Rath and Sekhar Bose would pursue the allotment of land and development of the centre.
This apart, the general body also decided to hold a senior state championship — for both men and women and a mini-state championship for Under-14 boys and girls — in Jamshedpur.
