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Hosts India advanced as the top side from today’s invitational team round robin at the HSBC Asian Sevens Series’ India Sevens.
India advanced after posting a day one round robin record of three wins, no losses and one draw (against Iran). Their results see them seeded as the top side amongst the invitational teams and the 13th seeds overall in the tournament. India are trailed by Iran (14th) and Afghanistan (15th) and will play Kazakhstan statistically the second easiest opponent tomorrow from the main field.
Iran drew with India 14-all in the morning match but then lost to India in today’s final round robin clash 14-7 to finish as the 14th seeds overall, while Afghanistan went winless on day one to finish 15th overall.
India coach Nasser Hussain commented on today’s matches saying, “We didn’t play as well as we had hoped, especially giving up the draw to Iran in the morning. But we clawed back a tough win over Iran to close out the day so we are improving.
“We made some silly mistakes that we will need to eliminate for tomorrow when we play against the rest of the field, but overall we are in good shape,” added Hussain.
Now that the round robin teams have established their rankings from day one, they will contest the Bowl quarter finals tomorrow against the core teams – those participating at every leg of the HSBC Asian Sevens Series.
India will play Kazakhstan at 08.52 tomorrow morning at the Bombay Gymkhana in the second Bowl quarter final. Chinese Taipei has a bye in round one, as they would have originally played the 16th team overall. But since Pakistan have failed to attend the tournament for visa reasons the 16th spot will be marked as a bye with Chinese Taipei advancing directly into tomorrow’s Bowl semi final.
Nasser Hussain commented on India’s opportunity tomorrow saying, “If we can get a win over Kazakhstan then we too will advance to the Bowl semi final and ultimately earn ranking points on the Series itself. A loss means that we will be routed to the Shield competition, which we won on our last outing in Thailand.
“It’s exciting for us to have the chance to play Kazakhstan so we can see how we match up against the rest of the teams from Asia. The only way we are going to improve is by playing tougher competition and Kazakhstan will certainly be a challenge,” added Hussain.
India may have the advantage as Kazakhstan only arrived early this morning after their flight was delayed in Mumbai and hence had a rough start to the tournament. The hosts will be looking to surprise a fatigued Kazakhstan early in the morning to earn a spot in their first ever HSBC Asian Sevens Series Bowl semi final.
In the other Bowl quarter finals, Afghanistan will play China while Iran will play the United Arab Emirates.
