Will focus on skills, says Skipper Ruchi Shetty

Mumbai: Looking to better the Indian U-18 girls’ fifth-place finish in the Rugby Sevens at the Paris World Games last month, their U-20 counterparts will compete in the Asia U-20 Rugby 7s Championship in Hong Kong. 

Mumbai’s Ruchi Shetty will lead the 12-member squad in the seven-nation tournament. “We want to win the tournament but we are lagging in size compared to top teams there. But we will focus on our skills and speed to do well,” Ruchi said.

Ruchi is the most experienced player in the squad having represented the senior Indian team in the Asian Women Sevens Championship in Sri Lanka in 2016 and was also part of the India squad that claimed a bronze medal at the inaugural U-18 Asian 7s at Dubai Sports City last year.

The squad coached by Rehmuddin Shaikh was pruned from 25 probables in the two-week preparatory camp here and will have four girls each from West Bengal and Odisha, three from Maharashtra and one from Delhi. Teams from China, Thailand, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Singapore and hosts Hong Kong will take part in the tournament. India play their first game against Thailand.

“The tournament will serve as a build-up to the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia as many girls in this squad will be part of the Indian women’s senior team if we qualify,” Rugby India general manager Nasser Hussain said. Gargee Walekar, part of India U-18 girls team in Paris felt the exposure would help her. 

Squad: Ruchi Shetty (c), Gargee Walekar, Nilam Patil, Ria Bisht, Rajani Sabar, Basanti Pangi, Manjulata Pradhan, Kabita Kasturi, Chanda Oraon, Swapna Oraon, Suman Oraon, Punam Oraon.