{"id":103118,"date":"2026-02-17T03:27:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T03:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/17\/mintonette-volleyball-league-junior-2026-kicks-off-with-grand-inaugural-auction-in-navi-mumbai\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T03:27:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T03:27:47","slug":"mintonette-volleyball-league-junior-2026-kicks-off-with-grand-inaugural-auction-in-navi-mumbai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/17\/mintonette-volleyball-league-junior-2026-kicks-off-with-grand-inaugural-auction-in-navi-mumbai\/","title":{"rendered":"Mintonette+ Volleyball League Junior 2026 Kicks Off with Grand Inaugural Auction in Navi Mumbai"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 16: <\/strong>Maharashtra\u2019s first-ever franchise-based junior volleyball tournament, the <strong>Mintonette+ Volleyball League Junior 2026<\/strong>, officially began with a spectacular inaugural auction held at Hotel Regenza by Tunga, Vashi. Organized by\u00a0<strong>Mintonette+ Academy<\/strong>\u00a0under the aegis of the\u00a0<strong>Maharashtra Volleyball Association (MVA)<\/strong>, the landmark event marked a new chapter in the competitive volleyball development across the state.<\/p>\n<p>The evening began with a warm welcome address by\u00a0<strong>Dr. Jaya Gupta Rajesh<\/strong>, who hosted a distinguished gathering of Maharashtra\u2019s sports leadership and volleyball fraternity. The event was graced by several eminent dignitaries including\u00a0<strong>Mr. Vijay Dangrae, President, MVA; Mr. Sanjay Sethae, Secretary, MOA; Mr. Sunil Agarkar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Sports, Maharashtra; and Mr. Nilesh Jagtap, Secretary, MVA and Joint Secretary, MOA<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-69245\" src=\"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/PNN-16-2-26-6.jpg\" alt=\"Mintonette\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"><\/p>\n<p>Adding further prestige to the occasion were celebrated volleyball personalities such as\u00a0<strong>Shiv Chhatrapati Award winner Mr. Suresh Gaikwad<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>India international player Mohd. Zama<\/strong>, and\u00a0<strong>Mrs. Pratibha Prabhu, National Player and Co-Founder of Mintonette+ Academy<\/strong>. All dignitaries were felicitated with mementos by the Mintonette+ Academy team in recognition of their contribution to the sport.<\/p>\n<p>Highlighting the academy\u2019s roadmap for the future,\u00a0<strong>Mr. Vijay Menon<\/strong>\u00a0presented Mintonette+ Academy\u2019s long-term vision focused on strengthening grassroots engagement, structured training pathways, and competitive exposure for young athletes. This was followed by the ceremonial unveiling of the league\u2019s official\u00a0<strong>Mintonette+ ball and jersey<\/strong>\u00a0by\u00a0<strong>Mr. Rajesh Pushpan<\/strong>, alongside the distinguished guests.<\/p>\n<p>The league introduces\u00a0<strong>twelve franchises across boys\u2019 and girls\u2019 categories<\/strong>, representing a wide geographic footprint across Maharashtra. Teams from\u00a0<strong>Mumbai, Pune, Latur, Beed, Kolhapur, Amravati, Nagpur, Nashik, and Palghar<\/strong>\u00a0reflect the league\u2019s bold statewide ambition. While some franchise owners attended virtually or were represented due to prior commitments, the enthusiasm and commitment to building a sustainable junior volleyball ecosystem were unmistakable.<\/p>\n<p>The auction itself witnessed spirited bidding, setting the tone for a highly competitive inaugural season.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Girls\u2019 Category Top Picks:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>Anooja Kumar \u2013 Rs.60,000 by\u00a0<strong>Nagpur Super Queens<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Shriya Chandrashekar \u2013 Rs.40,000 by\u00a0<strong>Mumbai NET DIVAS<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Sanjana \u2013 Rs.29,000 by\u00a0<strong>Nashik Ace Girls<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Sakshi Salunkhe \u2013 Rs.20,000 by\u00a0<strong>Pune Phoenix<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Boys\u2019 Category Top Picks:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>Sayed Arsalan \u2013 Rs.40,000 by\u00a0<strong>Beed Amens<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Vishwajit Patil \u2013 Rs.35,000 by\u00a0<strong>Kolhapur Royals<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Kunal Gadge \u2013 Rs.32,000 by\u00a0<strong>Palghar Patriots<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Ravi Singh \u2013 Rs.30,000 by\u00a0<strong>Mumbai Kings<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Expressing pride in the outcome,\u00a0<strong>Mr. Shiju, National Player and Co-Founder of Mintonette+ Academy<\/strong>, said, \u201cI am glad several of our M+ Academy-trained players secured selections, reinforcing the league\u2019s commitment to homegrown talent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In her closing remarks,\u00a0<strong>Dr. Jaya Gupta Rajesh<\/strong>\u00a0emphasized the larger vision behind the initiative: \u201cWe aren\u2019t just starting an auction. We are starting a movement.\u201d Her words captured the spirit of transformation and opportunity that the Mintonette+ Volleyball League aims to bring to junior volleyball in Maharashtra.<\/p>\n<p>The proceedings were expertly steered by\u00a0<strong>India\u2019s leading auctioneer, Mr. Kapil Dedhia<\/strong>, whose high-energy hosting kept the atmosphere electric throughout the evening.<\/p>\n<p>With strong institutional backing, star participation, and statewide representation, the Mintonette+ Volleyball League Junior 2026 promises to become a pioneering platform for nurturing young volleyball talent and elevating Maharashtra\u2019s presence on the national stage.<\/p>\n<p><em>If you object to the content of this press release, please notify us at pr.error.rectification@gmail.com. We will respond and rectify the situation within 24 hours.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 16: Maharashtra\u2019s first-ever franchise-based junior volleyball tournament, the Mintonette+ Volleyball League Junior 2026, officially began with a spectacular inaugural auction held at Hotel Regenza by Tunga, Vashi. Organized by\u00a0Mintonette+ Academy\u00a0under the aegis of the\u00a0Maharashtra Volleyball Association (MVA), the landmark event marked a new chapter in the competitive volleyball development across [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[126],"class_list":["post-103118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}