Captain Ruchi Shetty confident of India winning Asian Rugby 7s

Ruchi Shetty, captain of the Indian Women's Rugby team is confident of a good showing when they compete in the Asia U-20 Girls Rugby 7s Championship to be played in Hong Kong on August 4 and 5. The tournament will be held on a round robin format.

The 12-member Indian team comprises of four players each from West Bengal and Odisha, three from Maharashtra and one from Delhi. The team, supported by Societe General, will be accompanied by Rehmuddin Shaikh from Mumbai, as the coach, this was announced at a Press conference on Tuesday. Teams from China, Thailand, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Singapore and hosts Hong Kong will take part in the tournament.

The Mumbai-based Ruchi stated that the tournament will be tough as there are some strong team in the competition.

“We (Indian team) have been training for the past two weeks and we expect a tough time, as most of the other teams are heavy sides. But we have an advantage as we have the skills and speed, which we would try and put to maximum use,” said the skipper.

Gargee Walekar, who also based in Mumbai and was part of India Under-18 girls rugby team which recently participated in the Paris World Games, shared similar thoughts as her captain. “Our team lacks in size when compared to other teams which are in the fray. But we will focus on using field and avoiding contact with opposition players.”

Meanwhile, Nasser Hussain, General Manager of Rugby India, mentioned that this tournament would provide the girl’s and opportunity to gain experience and get ready for the forthcoming Asian Games. “This will be a stiff competition for our girls as teams like Hong Kong, China and Singapore has been on the circuit for long, but that does not take much away for our girls who possess the talent and have the potential to do well. I am confident that they will do us and the country proud. We would also use this tournament as a build up to 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia,” opined Hussain.

Ruchi believes that they have the capability to succeed. “We will give it our best shot and definitely aim to win the tournament for which we have prepared going into the tournament," a confident Ruchi said.