India to compete in rugby series in Pakistan

India V Pakistan

New Delhi, June 17 (IANS) India will play the Asian Rugby Football Union's (ARFU) Asian 5 Nations (A5N) Division-III Tournament (West) at the National Stadium in Lahore June 18-22.

The final leg of the tournament will feature Uzbekistan, Lebanon, India and hosts Pakistan. India will start their campaign against Uzbekistan in the first semifinal June 19, while the hosts will face Lebabon on the same day.

The losers of the two matches will play in the third place playoff while the winners will take on each other in the final June 22.

The Indian team were preparing in the national training camp held at Delhi Public School R.K. Puram and DDA Ground Vasant Kunj here June 1-16, and the team will leave for Pakistan June 18.

The squad is coached by New Zealander Pale Tauti and Delhi Police's Kamaldeep Dagar leads the team. The team comprises players from the Indian Army, police force and major rugby centres like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Bangalore.

The squad:

Forwards: Suresh Sajwan, Parvinder Singh, Mukesh Mankotia, Naresh Kumar, Prashant, Monu Yadav, Sukhdeep Singh, Neeraj Khatri, Surinder Singh, Nitin Dagar, Amit Lochab, Kamaldeep Dagar, Jagga Singh, Shokdender, Balakrishna Vaka.

Backs: Sujai Lama, Gautam Dagar, Rohit Sivach, Bikash Jena, Vikas Khatri, Samser Singh, Deepak Dagar, Uthaya Sankar, Rakesh Lochab, Sumit Singh, Akash Balmiki.

Management: Pale Tauti, Manas Kumar Jena, Nasser Hussain.