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Indian women rugby team, featuring three players from Odisha, won the silver medal at the Asia Rugby Sevens Trophy, which was held at Dasrath Stadium in Kathmandu, Nepal on 4 and 5 October 2024. In the nail-biting final, Indian women went down to Philippines 5-7. Guam women won the bronze, defeating Indonesia 22-19.
Led by Shikha Yadav, the 12-member Indian women team qualified for the final, winning all three of their Group-E league matches and the semifinal against Guam 24-7. At the league stage, Indian women beat Sri Lanka 29-10, Indonesia 17-10 and Iran 20-0 (walk-over).
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This is the fourth time in a row that Indian women won the silver medal at the Asian Rugby Sevens Trophy. However, Indian women missed out on getting promoted to the Asia Rugby Sevens Series. Hupi Majhi, Nirmalya Rout and Dumuni Marndi represented Odisha in the Indian women team.
Indian men team, captained by Mohit Khatri, finished seventh with a 12-7 win over Jordan. In the bowl semifinal, Indian men lost to Bahrain 14-15. The 12-member Indian men team, which included three from Odisha, earlier went down to Sri Lanka 0-22 in the cup quarterfinals.
Indian men qualified for the quarterfinals, winning two matches and losing one at the league stage. They defeated Afghanistan 35-7 and Bangladesh 31-5, but lost to Chinese Taipei 7-31. The three Odisha players in the Indian men team were: Asis Sabar, Ganesh Majhi and Ajit Hansdah.
Philippines men also won the gold medal beating Chinese Taipei 27-14 in the final. Sri Lanka settled for the bronze medal with a 32-0 win over Uzbekistan. In the previous edition, Indian men finished fifth. Waisale Serevi was the new head coach of the Indian teams.
INDIAN WOMEN TEAM: Shikha Yadav, Sheetal Sharma (both Delhi), Hupi Majhi, Nirmalya Rout, Dumuni Marndi (all Odisha); Ujjwala Ghuga, Vaishnavi Patil, Sakshi Jambhale, Kalyani Patil, Rutuja Kirdat (all Maharashtra); Bhumika Shukla (Rajasthan), Sandhya Rai (West Bengal).
INDIAN MEN TEAM: Asis Sabar, Ganesh Majhi, Ajit Hansdah (all Odisha); Sumit Kumar Roy, Karan Rajbhar (both West Bengal), Deepak Punia, Mohit Khatri, Prince Khatri (all Haryana), Pranav Patil, Ballabh Patil, Prashant Singh (all Maharashtra), Javed Hussein (Delhi).
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TOP: Players of the Indian women team pose with their silver medal at the Asia Rugby Sevens Trophy in Kathmandu on 5 October 2024.
RIGHT: Odisha trio (L-R) Dumuni Marndi, Hupi Majhi and Nirmalya Rout pose at the Asia Rugby Sevens Trophy 2024 in Kathmandu, Nepal.
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