The Indian rugby team was elated as they landed in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday after winning silver in the Asia Rugby Under-18 Girls 7s.
Asia Rugby Under-18 Girl's Rugby 7s Championship was hosted by Uzbekistan Rugby Federation, in Tashkent on September 18th and 19th, 2021. The Indian team fell 17-21 against the United Arab Emirates in the final to register a second-place finish on the podium.
This was the first official tournament in Asia after 1 year, 11 months and 29 days. Host Uzbekistan was joined by Kazakhstan, India, Kyrgyzstan and the United Arab Emirates to compete for the trophy.
Anshika, the captain of the Under-18 team told ANI, "We all played well and we gave our best. We might have lacked something that's why we came second. But next time we will try our best to get the first position. They defeated us by 21-17. In future, we will work harder and try to win the gold medal."
Surojit from Indian rugby said, "Six weeks earlier, we started the camp here in Odisha. We started a camp of 53 girls and then we picked 14 girls. That team represented India in the Asia Rugby Under-18 Girls 7s."
"Their performance was very good in the tournament which shows their preparation was good. They have played well in their first-ever international."
"Future is bright. You can see if they can get silver with six weeks of training. Definitely, with six months or six years of training, they would do much better for India," he added.
The Asia Rugby Under-18 Girls 7s Rugby Championship was first played in 2016 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and has become an integral part of Asia Rugby's long term player development strategy for the growth of the Women's Program.
( With inputs from ANI )
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