The Maharashtra boys’ and girls’ teams are determined to produce an improved performance from last year and try for a podium finish in the “Societe Generale Junior (boys’ and girls’ under-18) National Rugby Sevens Championship 2016”, which will be played at the prestigious Bombay Gymkhana on Thursday, October 20 and Friday, October 21, 2016. The two-day event is being conducted by The Indian Rugby Football Union (IRFU) aka Rugby India, in association with Societe Generale and Rugby Association of Maharashtra (RAM).
Mahrashtra Boys
In last year’s Championship in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, the state boys’ reached the semi-final round, but this time they are keen make optimum use of the home advantage and try to emerge champions. Maharashtra is placed in Pool-E along with Jammu & Kashmir and Chhattisgarh. They open their campaign against J&K in the morning and, later clash with Chhattisgarh in the afternoon.
The Maharashtra girls are drawn in Pool-D along with Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. In their opening fixture, Maharashtra face off against Kerala in the morning and later in the day they take on Andhra Pradesh.
Maharashtra girls
The event is important for girls as it will be the basis for selecting the Indian Junior team to participate in the Asian Junior Under-18 Championship in Dubai later this year. Rugby India, would shorFrotlist players for a National camp to pick the Indian Under-18 girl’s team which will play in the Asian Circuit.
A record number of 30 states (18 boys and 12 girls’ teams) are participating in the Championship. The teams that will be vying for top honours, include hosts Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Daman, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir. The 18 boys’ teams have been divided into 6 groups of 3 teams each and will initially play on a league format with the top teams qualifying for the knockout round.
Last year’s winners West Bengal (boys) and Odisha (girls) are the top seeds in the tournament. The Bengal lads are clubbed in Pool-A with Karala and Punjab while the Odisha girls are placed in Pool-A with Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.
The Groupings:
Boys – Pool-A: West Bengal, Kerala, Punjab.
Pool-B: Tamil Nadu, Daman & Diu, Uttarakhand.
Pool-C: Odisha, Haryana, Gujarat.
Pool-D: Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka.
Pool-E: Maharshtra, Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh.
Pool-F: Bihar, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh.
Girls’ – Pool-A: Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka.
Pool-B: West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat.
Pool-C: Bihar, Delhi, Rajasthan.
Pool-D: Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh.
Maharashtra teams:
Boys : Shehbaz Kapoor(Mumbai Sub – Captain), Vikas Dhuriya (Thane), Prashant Kamble (Kolhapur), Abhishek Yadav(Thane), Bablu Yadav(Thane), Akram Sheikh(Mumbai Sub), Sagar Singh(Mumbai City), Khem Thapa (Thane), Ishwar Rathod(Mumbai City), Kishore Chavan(Mumbai City), Shridhar Nigade (Kolhapur), Wasim Khan(Mumbai Sub). Coach: Vikas Chaurasiya.
Girls: Shikha Thakkar (Mumbai Sub – Captain), Priyanka Bais (Gondia), Himayawathi Gavti (Thane), Rashi Shinde (Gondia), Riya Countinho (Mumbai Sub), Sreeya Shetty (Mumbai Sub), Gargee Walekar (Mumbai Sub), Payal Kanojia (Mumbai City), Kshitija Manglurkar (Mumbai Sub), Rutuja Manglurkar (Mumbai Sub), Devyani Mohope (Thane), Shraddha Lawand (Mumbai Sub). Coach: Rehmuddin Sheikh.