Indian Rugby squad clinches silver at 2021 Asia Rugby U18 Girls Rugby Sevens Championships

The Indian rugby team were ecstatic as they landed in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday after winning a silver medal at the 2021 Asia Rugby U18 Girls Rugby Sevens Championships.

The Rugby Championships were held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on September 18 and 19. The Indian team fell 17-21 against the United Arab Emirates in the final to register a second-place finish.

This was the first official tournament in Asia, after almost two years of COVID 19 induced lockdown. Host Uzbekistan was joined by Kazakhstan, India, Kyrgyzstan and the United Arab Emirates to compete for the trophy.

The Indian Rugby squad eyes gold in their next outing

The Indian team went down 17-21 against the United Arab Emirates in the final. Captain Anshika asserted that the team gave its best but right there have been shortcomings as the team finished second at the Championships.

"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 the future, we will work harder and try to win the gold medal," said Anshika, the captain of the Under-18 team.

A total of 52 girls from across India were shortlisted based on their performance and fitness skills at the last sub-junior national championships and national school games rugby championships.

"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," said Surojit from Indian rugby.

Surojit hailed the rugby team's performance during their first-ever international outing.

"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," added Surojit.

The Asia Rugby Under-18 Girls Sevens Rugby Championship was first played in 2016 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It has become an integral part of Asia Rugby's long-term player development strategy for the growth of the Women's Program.