India stars to feature in Merces volleyball

Panaji: Some of India’s top volleyball players are expected to take part in the 2nd All Goa volleyball tournament, organised by Gladstone Almeida in collaboration with Pogo Boys, Merces, at Modi ground, Merces, from Tuesday.
The five-day tournament will see six teams from Goa vying for top honours. Competition rules make it mandatory for the teams to have three outstation players. The teams have got in touch with players from the Prime Volleyball League (PVL) with Shubham Choudhary and Kiran Raj among the names that are being talked about.
Organisers said teams have not revealed their list of outstation stars for fear of players being poached.
“Last year, we organised this all-Goa tournament in Santa Barbara ward (Santa Cruz) and thought we should now take it a notch higher with national players,” said Almeida, who is organising the tournament in memory of his father and brother, Vicente Almeida and Bonifacio Almeida. “I am sure that the competition will be fierce since we will have top volleyball players.”
The six teams have been divided into two groups. Group A has Detailz Doctor (Menkure), Cacra-Aradi-Bandh (Santa Cruz) and KK Boys (Santa Cruz), while the other group comprises of Radhakrisna (Usgao), Sarvan (Bicholim) and Varad 7.
Pogo Boys have developed a special volleyball court at Merces with a seating capacity of over 3,000.
Cash prizes of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 70,000 will be awarded to the winners and runners-up. Semifinal losers will be awarded Rs 25,000 each.

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All Goa v’ball: Detailz Doctor, Menkure vs Cacra-Aradi-Bandh, Santa Cruz, 8pm; Radhakrisna, Usgao vs Sarvan, Bicholim 9pm; Modi ground, Merces