After a successful outing in the U-20 Asian Rugby Sevens in Hong Kong where Ruchi Shetty led Indian girls team finished a creditable fourth, the Airoli girl is recuperating from an injury. Ruchi thus isn’t participating in the Senior National Rugby Championship 2017 to be held in Patna, from August 11 to 13.
The 18-year-old suffered an injury during the campaign in Hong Kong and avoided the tournament as a precautionary measure. Ruchi’s friend Gargee Walekar, who accompanied her to Hong Kong, is in the national squad. The Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban District has total six players in the 12-member women’s squad. Sheetal Rane, Shikha Thakkar, Sara Khan, Chanchal Rajbhar and Payal Kanojiya are the other five girls from Mumbai.
Ruchi who is back from the overseas visit, was happy with the team’s performance in Hong Kong after a difficult start. “The first day was a bit tough. We lost the first match with Thailand, which was disappointing. It cost us one match to get back to our actual game. We made a good comeback against Malaysia and also put up a great fight against the tournament heavyweights China and Hong Kong,” she said.
“After a tiring Day One, we build up on our game by winning both matches on Day 2. We were aiming to be in first three ranks but I am happy that we came fourth. We know what to work on now and will be much more prepared for the next tournament,” Ruchi added.
A total of 22 states and affiliated units including Maharashtra, hosts Bihar, Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) and CRPF are participating and fight the battle to claim victory in this national championship. The Maharashtra men’s and women’s rugby teams were selected on the basis of their performance in the Maharashtra Inter-District Rugby Championship 2017 for senior men and women held in Nagpur on August 4 and 5. Post the state tournament, the Rugby Association of Maharashtra hosted the training camp for the Maharashtra state men & women rugby teams, at RTM Nagpur University grounds till August 10. The Men’s team will be led by Sunil Chawan and has five more players from Mumbai City district in Rehmuddin Shaikh, Mangesh Chouhan, Sagar Singh, Somnath Chauhan, and Bharat Chavan. Vikas Rajodiya will represent Mumbai suburban district and Rohit Bandebuche will represent Thane in the 12-member men’s squad. Shailesh Devarukhkar of Mumbai Suburban district will coach the side.
