Kolkata Thunderbolts head coach Sunny Joseph said his team is fully prepared to go into the final. Kolkata finished at second place in the standings with four wins from six matches and had a total of eight points under their bag.
Kolkata Thunderbolts defeated Kochi Blue Spikers 13-15, 15-11, 15-13, 15-8, 10-15 at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad on Wednesday night.
Vinit Kumar was unstoppable for Kolkata Thunderbolts against Kochi Blue Spikers and he was awarded the Player of the match. In fact, Kolkata lost the opening set but bounced back stronger to win the next three sets to seal the game.
Sunny Joseph said in the post-match presentation, “I feel very happy, the first time I am with a professional team. We will take on Calicut Heroes [in the semifinal) and we are fully prepared to go into the final”.
In fact, Kolkata Thunderbolts had already qualified for the semifinal and they could have tested their bench strength against Kochi Blue Spikers. However, they played with a full-strength team in order to finish in second place in the standings.
When asked they wanted to avoid Ahmedabad Defenders in the semifinals, Joseph added, “No, I think all the four teams [which have qualified for the semfinal] are equal in strength. Because of this points system, we can not predict if this team is good or that team is good”.
On the other hand, Vinit Kumar added that going with a win into the semifinal stages will boost the team’s confidence as Calicut Heroes is also a good team.
Kolkata Thunderbolts had defeated Calicut Heroes in the league stage and they will look to replicate the same success in the semifinal, which will take place on Friday.
