SportsTrumpet’s Exclusive Interview With Volleyball Player Karthik Madhu

In an Interview with Sports Trumpet journalist Neelam Sharma, Kochi Blue Spikers blocker shares his thoughts about his journey in volleyball, key players of the team, and much more…

The new season of the RuPay Prime Volleyball League is all set to kickstart from 5th February 2022 onwards. The upcoming season will be longer than Season 1 and will feature a total of 22 matches with the final of the league set to take place on 1st March 2022 and the entire tournament is going to be played in Kochi.

The RuPay Prime Volleyball League will feature seven franchises from seven different cities including Calicut Heroes, Kochi Blue Spikers, Ahmedabad Defenders, Hyderabad Black Hawks, Chennai Blitz, Bengaluru Torpedoes, and Kolkata Thunderbolts. SONY TEN 1, SONY TEN 3 (Hindi), and SONY TEN 4 (Tamil and Telugu) will broadcast the league. The inaugural season of the league was won by Chennai Blitz as they defeated Calicut Heroes in the finals.

In an exclusive interview given to SportsTrumpet Karthik Madhu who plays as a Blocker for Kochi Blue Spikers. The 31-year-old spoke about a variety of topics including how he started his journey, the pandemic, and the league.

“My entry into volleyball happened at an unexpected time. I started playing volleyball when I was in junior college, while most other players start playing the sport during their school days. I was the Indian team Captain in the national team’s last tournament at the 2021 Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship in Japan. I have been born and brought up in Bangalore and I also work in the postal department as a postal assistant in the city apart from playing volleyball.”

“It’s a new team (referring to Kochi Blue Spikers) and everyone joined the camp a week early and the adaptation to the environment was smooth everyone in the team is fit and is  training really well and we are all are on the same page.”

“The coach makes sure that everyone is training well in both physical and technical aspects of the game the team management have all been very supportive they introduced mental wellness trainers which have helped us, players, immensely.”

“The pandemic has affected the game of volleyball greatly. In India, we don’t have many indoor training facilities and due to lockdowns, we were unable to practice. It was difficult to keep in shape and the inability to practice with the team has a massive impact on the game as we have to train together as a unit to build synergy.”

“Every team in the league has quality players but what matters in volleyball the most is experience and Chennai has some experienced players so they will pose a great threat to every team in the league.”

“The league is a massive platform as it will give us the opportunity to play alongside foreign players if it weren’t for this league we wouldn’t get the opportunity to play alongside them and learn things from them like how they maintain high physical levels which is beneficial for us in long run.”

The league will help in bringing more eyeballs to the game of volleyball and will also inspire the young generation to get involved. The matches will be broadcasted live on Sony Sports Network.