The 29-year-old Middle Blocker praised the team’s training sessions and management staff ahead of the start of the season
Bengaluru, 04 February 2022: Sarang Santhilal, who hails from the city of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, was studying at the Panimalar Engineering College in Chennai when he decided to pursue volleyball in 2010 at the age of 18. With his sister being an international badminton player, Sarang joined the badminton team at his college. But due to the lack of space available for training for the sport, he decided to switch to volleyball.
“My extended family from both mother and father’s side had represented India in volleyball. So, the sport was in my genes,” Sarang said, explaining the reasons behind the switch.
While pursuing his studies in Chennai, Sarang went on to represent the state of Tamil Nadu in the Senior Nationals. He helped his team win the National Games gold medal in 2015. A few years later, Sarang joined the Kerala State Electricity Board as an Engineer and started representing his home state.
In 2019, he played a key role in helping his team win the Federation Cup. “The best match in my career was the Semifinal against Punjab at the 2015 Federation Cup. With the match going to five sets, I played a key role as a Middle Blocker in the match to help my team Kerala reach the final in the tournament. We defeated Tamil Nadu in the final to win the trophy,” he recalled.
Sarang’s father, after taking voluntary retirement from the Indian Army, is now working as a Physical Education teacher at the Kendriya Vidyalaya. His mother is working at the Indian Railways, while his sister is working at the Kerala Education Department.
And Sarang, himself, is gearing up to represent the Bengaluru Torpedoes, at the upcoming 2022 edition of the Prime Volleyball League.
“PVL will help me in a lot of ways. A lot of foreign players have come, and the conversations and the practice sessions we will have will them will give us a lot to learn about the sport,” Sarang said.
“Also being part of the professional volleyball league in India is a dream for every player. So, to achieve this is a big positive push to keep this career going. It’s what every player wants. PVL has given us a platform which we did not have before,” he added.
Speaking about the Bengaluru Torpedoes team, Sarang feels that the mix of youth and senior players in the team is the best feature of the franchise. He also praised the team management for giving the players freedom to express themselves.
“The best thing about Bengaluru Torpedoes is that we are breaking stereotypes and the team that we have created is a very balanced one. We have a blend of youth players and experienced veterans and have created a power-packed team,” Sarang said.
“We are getting so much support from the management that we feel very comfortable. And the fitness and training staff and those who are analysing our fitness levels, are giving us a lot of information which is helping everyone. We are getting regular feedback and useful information which will really help the youngsters,” he added.
Bengaluru Torpedoes held training sessions at Mysuru before arriving in Hyderabad earlier this week. Sarang said that the players bonded well at the sessions and are ready for the competition to begin.
“Our training camp in Mysuru was tremendous because the arrangements were quite good. The team got to spend time together and it has helped in increasing the bonding between the players. The foreign players also arrived and we quickly bonded with each other and you can feel the team is getting better and better each day. Hence, we are quite confident and ready for the tournament to begin,” he signed off.
