The Premier Volleyball League powers up for its third conference offering with a new team ready to embellish things up in the All-Filipino wars in October.
The Akari Lighting & Technology Corp., which joined the country’s only professional volley league through the Akari Chargers in 2022, will be fielding in another squad in the Nxled Chameleons in its continuing effort to boost the sport, provide the company added marketing exposure and create employment opportunities.
“The obvious reason that we are forming Nxled is because we want to market the brand,” said Akari sports director Russell Balbacal. “The PVL has proven to be a strong platform for brands to promote their products.
“More importantly, Akari has been a staunch supporter of Philippine volleyball for the past few years. Having a second team will also help provide more jobs for players and coaches alike,” he added.
The team composition, including the roster and the coaching staff, will be announced soon.
“We are committed to forming a very competitive team in this new endeavor of ours because this is not just a one-shot deal. We are guaranteeing to the PVL and fans alike that this team will be in the league for the long term,” said Balbacal.
Just like a chameleon, Nxled, which specializes in luxury lighting, offers accent lights that adjust to any household.
Evolving and adjusting to every style of the game is what Balbacal envisions as the identity of Nxled in the PVL.
“We are envisioning the Nxled Chameleons to be a team that will easily adjust to any opponent they will face in the PVL,” said Balbacal.
The league, organized by Sports Vision, is coming off a highly successful staging of the Invitational Conference that saw the Kurashiki Ablaze of Japan nip Creamline in an epic one-game finale before a banner crowd at the Philsports Arena.
The tournament likewise featured three new local teams in Foton, Farm Fresh and Gerflor, with Nxled likely to make it a record 12-team field in the upcoming tournament.
PVL and Sports Vision president Ricky Palou had earlier announced that the league will revert to the All-Filipino format in lieu of the Reinforced Conference after the governing FIVB blocked the league’s request for ITCs (International Transfer Certificates) to be able the competing teams’ respective foreign guest players to play.
Akari will thus become the third franchise to have two teams in the league after Creamline and Choco Mucho (Rebisco); Chery Tiggo and Foton (United Asia Automotive Group, Inc.; and PLDT and Cignal (PLDT).
