PVL: People thought we were mentally affected, says Angamuthu after Ahmedabad Defenders book final berth

Kochi:  When Kolkata Thunderbolts defeated Ahmedabad Defenders on Thursday in the Prime Volleyball League (PVL), many doubted the capabilities of the team from Gujarat, however, defender Angamuthu Ramaswamy had only one thing in mind and that was to win the semi-final match and book seat for the finals.

And on Saturday, Ahmedabad Defenders stunned the Calicut Heroes in the second semi-final of the second season of PVL with a 17-15, 9-15, 17-15, 15-11 win at the Regional Sports Centre to confirm the final spot.

“We had thought to play well, we didn’t play in the last match, we had to give bang entry because the other teams were thinking that the last match had mentally affected Ahmedabad Defenders. But we wanted to prove them wrong and hopefully we did. We are confident for the finals also now,” Angamuthu told IANS in an interview.

The interesting thing is, Ahmedabad Defenders are in the finals of PVL while defending champions Kolkata Thunderbolts have been knocked out after losing to Bengaluru Torpedoes on Friday.

Angamuthu, the mainstay in the Ahmedabad Defenders’ lineup and the player of the match on Saturday, has set his focus on the ultimate glory which he is eyeing to achieve on Sunday as the team gets ready to face Bengaluru Torpedoes in the PVL finals.

“My first reaction was thinking about the trophy as soon as we won the semi-final match, we had missed the trophy last time but hopefully we will go the next step further today,” he said.

“We are just thinking about the trophy, we are not thinking about the struggles and all,” he added.

Ahmedabad Defenders have enjoyed dominance over Calicut Heroes but that didn’t give a psychological edge to the side ahead of the semis match on Saturday.

“I don’t think so, it was a knockout match, they had a different strategy, we knew that and we planned according to that,” Angamuthu concluded.

–IANS