Blasters Sports Ventures Private Limited (BSVPL), the parent company of Kerala Blasters Football Club (KBFC), is making its foray into volleyball with Radnicki Blasters. The team will compete in the Serbian First Division.
This partnership, with the top Serbian Club Radnicki Belgrade, will help discover volleyball talents from across Kerala, one of the traditional powerhouses of the game in the country. It will further bring in technical expertise, training infrastructures, support and an international exposure to budding talents from all around the state.
Serbia, one of the core teams in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League, has a strong legacy in sports, especially Volleyball. The country's women’s national volleyball team won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and were crowned champions of the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship, while the men’s team won a gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and a bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. In 2016, the national men’s team won the FIVB World League for the first time. Serbia have also been crowned European champions thrice both in the men’s (2001, 2011, 2019) and women's (2011, 2017, 2019) categories.
“We are delighted to join hands with Radnicki Belgrade, a club that has deep roots in volleyball. With well-defined objectives, we have designed an array of activities including cultural exchange programmes and coaching masterclasses to benefit the volleyball players in Kerala, as part of our association,” said Nikhil Bhardwaj, co-owner, BSVPL.
Equally excited are the team at Radnicki Belgrade about their association with the Blasters, “Radnicki Belgrade is a club with a rich tradition in one of the most popular sports in Serbia, volleyball. We are honoured and thrilled to partner with BSVPL on this wonderful project of growing the sport of volleyball in Kerala. The team at BSVPL is equally committed to sports as us, and we look forward to a long-term relationship. In future, our club will be named Radnicki Blasters, and our athletes-both the first team and academy players, will wear the jersey ‘Radnicki Blasters’ with great pride and an even bigger responsibility,” said Nikola Biverovic, Sports Director, Radnicki Belgrade.
