Four Olympians headline international stars for Prime Volleyball League Season 5

Hyderabad: Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Hernán Federico Pereyra and three other Olympians headline the international line-up for Prime Volleyball League (PVL) Season 5, which will be held in Ahmedabad from November 30 to December 23.

Pereyra, an Argentine universal who won bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and also competed at London 2012, will represent the Telugu Black Hawks alongside Dominican Republic attacker Hector Alexis Cruz Cepin and Brazilian attacker Henrique Ferreira Meireles Guimaraes.

The Calicut Heroes feature Canadian Olympians Steven James Douglas Marshall, who competed at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, and setter Brett James Walsh, who represented Canada at Paris 2024. Cuban universal Brayan Francisco Valle García completes their international contingent.

Egyptian universal and captain of the Egyptian national volleyball team, Reda Ibrahim Abdelnaby Afifi Haikal, who competed at the Paris 2024 Olympics, will represent the Goa Guardians alongside Japanese middle blocker Shunichiro Sato and American attacker Nathaniel John Dickinson.

The Bengaluru Torpedoes have retained American setter Matthew A West, who was part of their Season 4 title-winning campaign. They have also signed American universal Brandon Michael Rattray and brought back Australian attacker Thomas Alan Heptinstall.

The Ahmedabad Defenders feature Iranian middle blocker Mehdi Jafaryan Vameh Del and Indonesian attackers Luvi Febrian Nugraha and Fahri Septian Putratama.

The Chennai Blitz have added French middle blocker Tanguy Vianney Dijoud, Colombian middle blocker Leandro Jose Mejia Ararat and Kyrgyz Republic attacker Zhantemir Zheenbek Uulu. The Delhi Toofans will feature Colombian universal Willian Alejandro Bermudez Narvaez, Australian middle blocker James Mctavish Weir and Senegalese attacker Amadou Laye Samb.

The Kochi Blue Spikers will be represented by Serbian setter Marko Kostovic and German universal Christoph Marks.

The Kolkata Thunderbolts have Finnish universal Samuli Ville Mikael Kaistasalo, Norwegian attacker Lars Kristian Ekeland and Polish middle blocker Krzysztof Rejno in their line-up.

Norwegian middle blocker Petter Alstad Østvik and Latvian attacker Atvars Ozolins complete the international roster for the Mumbai Meteors.

Joy Bhattacharjya, CEO of the Prime Volleyball League, said, “Bringing players of this calibre to Season 5 reflects the progress the league has made in building a competitive platform for volleyball in India. With PVL now recognised by the FIVB, introducing three international players per team for the first time is another important step in our journey to strengthen the competition.”