Category: Rugby

by Abhishek Shukla

Indian Girls U18 team score two wins and finish in fifth in Rugby

Mumbai, July 10: The Societe Generale Indian Under-18 Girls Rugby team finished a creditable fifth in the Rugby sevens discipline for U18 Girls category in Paris World Games 2017 held at the Stade Georges Carpentier, Paris last weekend. The Indian team participated under the aegis of the Indian Rugby Football Union (IRFU).

In the Paris World Games Rugby sevens event, a total of 7 teams from across the world including, UAE Federation, Swiss Federation, Atlantis Girls (USA) , AAS Sarcelles, Comité Paris Ile de France, Baby Paris Ladies and India participated and fought for top honors.

The Rugby India girls’ team could not register a win on the opening day of the competition. The results and scores unfortunately did not reflect the competitive and spirited performance of Team India, which was truly applaudable.

The girls enjoyed twin success of the second day by winning both their matches. They recorded an emphatic 50-0 victory over UAE in the first match and they then carried the momentum into their last match of the tournament which saw them come from behind to defeat AAS Sarcelles 17-5.

The Rugby India U18 Girls team also had the opportunity to visit the FFR (French Rugby Federation) Training Facility, in Paris. The girls interacted and trained with the French National Women’s Development team. This was a great experience for the girls.

The 12 Indian players: Sumitra Nayak (Captain), Basanti Pangi, Rajani Sabar, Lija Sardar, Soni Mandangi (all Odisha), Rima Oraon, Lachmi Oraon, Punam Oraon, Sandhya Rai, Suman Oraon (all West Bengal), Gargee Walekar (Maharashtra), Sultana (Delhi).

Rehmuddin Shaikh (Assistant Coach, Mumbai).

Performance of Indian U18 Girls Rugby Team

Day One: Rugby India lost to Baby Paris Ladies 7-29.

Rugby India lost to AAS Sarcelles 10-12.

Rugby India lost to Atlantis Rugby (USA) 0-45.

Day Two: Rugby India beat UAE 50-0.

Rugby India beat AAS Sarcelles 17-5.

by Abhishek Shukla

South Zone Senior Men’s and Women’s Rugby 7’s Tournament, Bengaluru on July 8, 2017

July 8, Bangalore: Bangalore is all set to play host to its first  South Zone Senior Men’s and Women’s Rugby 7’s Tournament. The tournament scheduled on July 8,2017  will feature six  state  teams representing five southern states  in India.

 

The eight participating state  teams include Andhra Pradesh , Kerala , Tamil Nadu , Telengana , Puducherry and the hosts Karnataka . This will be the first of the five city circuit that will take place in the four other states in the coming months to come . The next leg of the circuit will be held in September at Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh. The tournament is organised by Karnataka Rugby Football Union (KRFU ) under the aegis of South India Rugby Football Association and Rugby India .

 

The Five teams in the men section will play a round robin and the top two teams will play for the Winner and runners up and the next two teams will play for the third place

 

The tournament will begin at 9am at  Sree Kanteerva Stadium , the finals for the Women’s will take place at 4.30 pm and the Men’s final will take place at 5pm on July 8, 2017.

Talking about the tournament, Mohan Krishna, President of South India Rugby Football Association  said, “With Rugby being included as an Olympic sport we see such tournaments to be an important part of the chain of rugby development , it helps us gives exposure to players in the grass roots to compete and excel and be noticed so that they have the opportunity to play for the country . The South Zone is the first to start this type of tournament .”

Talking about playing on the home ground , Karnataka captain and India player Roshan Lobo said ,“Though being the one of the oldest rugby playing state in the south , we have fielded a young and fit team to give them match exposure and develop the next line of players , we believe we are still the favourites in the tournament in the men’s section “

Nagesh Rao , Secretary  Karnataka Rugby Football Union  said, “We are very pleased to host the first edition first All India South Zone Senior Men’s and Women’s Rugby 7’s Tournament in Bengaluru . Events like these go a long way to promote the sport in a region and we hope that this tournament will do the same. We would like to express our gratitude towards Transworld Rugby  who have been a great supporter for the game , Adroit  Facility Management Services , Scrummer , and the Government of Karnataka  for helping us in organizing the tournament .

by Abhishek Shukla

Indian girls U18 rugby captain Sumitra confident of returning with a medal

Mumbai, July 4: The Societe Generale-Indian Girls’ Under-18 rugby team, will compete in the Rugby Sevens U-18 girls event at the Paris World Games 2017, to be held in the French capital, commencing on July 7 to 9, 2017, this was announced at a media conference on Tuesday.

The 12-member Indian team, which comprises of six players from Odisha, four from West Bengal and one each from Delhi and Maharashtra, will be captained by Sumitra Nayak from odisha.

Sumitra Nayak said the team will try their best to return with a medal, maybe even the gold from the tournament. “We have trained hard for the past one month here, in Mumbai under Hussain Sir. We have practised a lot and worked on improving our skills for the tournament and we will give our best to bring laurels for the country,” said Nayak, who initially trained at the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences in Bhubaneshwar.

The Indian team accompanied by coach Nasser Hussain will depart for Paris onJuly 6.

This is the second time that an India Girls’ Under-18 team will be participating in an international rugby tournament. Last year the Indian U-18 girls team had bagged a bronze at the inaugural Asian U-18 Rugby Sevens held in UAE.

Hussain pointed out that the team was picked after a selection process. “We had a selection camp where 25 girls took part out of which 12 girls were selected,” said Hussain.

Hussain said five girls – Sumitra, Rajni Sabar, Basanti Pangi, Lija Sardar (all Odisha) and Gargee Walekar (Maharashtra) – were part of the squad in the Asian tournament held in UAE. This time the team will be strengthened by inclusion of four girls from West Bengal, who will be making their international debut.

“So far, seven teams have confirmed their participation for the rugby event,” said the coach, adding it was a fairly young side.

Hussain said that team members will be meeting members of both the French women’s national rugby team and under-18 team during their visit.

Apart from rugby, the World Games – conducted with an eye on France winning the bid to host the 2024 Olympics – will see competitions in volleyball, football, badminton, basketball and handball.

The Games will see participation of around 15,000 athletes from over 60 countries.