Bombay Gym all set for women's rugby

Scrum's the word for the ladies as the Bombay Gymkhana club readies to host the first ever All-India Women's 7-a-side rugby tournament on May 23-24.

Scrum's the word for the ladies as the Bombay Gymkhana club readies to host the first ever All-India Women's 7-a-side rugby tournament on May 23-24.
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With 16 teams in the fray for this tourney, selectors will have a pool of talent from which to choose 12 players for the Indian women's national team.

This national team will then compete in the forthcoming Asian Women's 7-a-side rugby tournament to be held in Pattaya (Thailand) on May 30-31.

Good response

Rugby, with its machismo image is catching on with women, "girls, especially in schools and colleges across the country have taken to the sport," says Rugby India Regional Development manager (North & West India) Nasser Hussain, who is surprised at the response for the March 23-24 competition.

Says Hussain, "Rugby India has been trying to spread the sport in a grassroots development effort among women, and children (U-15, U-13) girls and boys for two-three years now.
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It is good to see the game is catching on despite poor facilities. In many places, there are no rugby pitches, little patches of grass on which the players play."

Hussain adds, girls pick up the game faster than boys, "as they are better listeners, they listen to their coaches."

The Pattaya tourney has teams like Japan, China, South Korea and Sri Lanka that have been playing women's rugby for a while.

"India might do reasonably well against newer teams. Competing at this level would be a great learning experience," says the regional development manager.

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