Indian Volleyball League: Another Success Story in the Making
Taking a cue from the success of Indian Premier League, all the sports federation of India have either launched or are planning to launch a league of the sports they control on the lines of IPL. 2012 will see the launch of Premier Soccer League by IFA-the football governing body of West Bengal, which will witness some world top footballers in action. Many other leagues of this kind have already been started or are in the process.
One success story on the lines of IPL is the Indian Volleyball League (IVL) currently in progress in four South Indian city of Bangalore, Chennai, Yanam and Hyderabad. An initiative by the Volleyball Federation of India, the league is played out by six teams in four legs, each city hosting one leg.
Maratha Warriors: Winners of the first leg in Bangalore
The six teams represent six regions mainly in the Southern part of the country. Chennai Spikers, as the name suggest represents Chennai or Tamil Nadu while Hyderabad Chargers are a team from Andhra Pradesh. Yanam Tigers and Maratha Warriors have created their fan base within Pondicherry and Maharastra respectively while Karnataka Bulls and Kerela Killers represents their respective states.
With top spikers from across the country doning the jerseys of the six teams, they have already enthralled the game lovers in the two leg that has already been played. The first leg, hosted by Bangalore saw the Maratha Warriors emerging winners while the second leg played in Chennai witness the home team Chennai Spikers as the winners. The third leg is to be played in Yanam from 12-16 of June while Hyderabad will host the Grand Finale from 20-24 June.
With no dearth of quality because of the presence of celebrated internationals and national team members, the Spikers are all set for a clash again in the 3rd and the 4th leg to vie for the eventual glory. The total prize money for the completion is Rs 22.5 Lakhs plus 12 Lakhs in total as appearance incentives. Though the financial aspect is low compared to IPL but still the League is a great opportunity to popularized and market the game to the mass.
Chennai Spikers: Winners of the Second leg in Chennai
Moreover the national team’s excellent performances in recent years have propelled the sport’s prospects to such an extent that it comes as a fillip to IVL 2011. With the IVL 2011 on its way to redefine Volleyball scenario of the country, hopefully there will be more teams coming in from the next edition. And it will be better if the teams are fielded from the length and breadth of the country as that will draw the interest of the people at pan India Level.
System of Competition and Classification of Teams
All the matches will be played at each centre on round robin basis and the winners at each centre will be decided as per the following FIVE rules.
The points will be awarded as follows:
Match won 2 Points
Match lost 1 Point
Match forfeited 0 Point
If two or more team obtained the same points, the ranking shall be decided by the Quotient Ratio of whole points won and lost.
If the tie is not cleared, ranking will be decided by the Quotient Ratio of the sets won and lost for the whole matches.
If two teams are still in tie, winner of the match played between two tied teams will be taken into consideration to break the tie.
If any team forfeit a match during their league round, they will be out of the championship and all the matches played by them in that group / pool and those results will not be reckoned for classification.
Total points secured by the teams at all centres will be taken into consideration to decide the first three positions of the IVL 2011.