Asian Rugby 7s C`wealth test event from Friday

New Delhi: Top eight Asian rugby sevens teams including Malaysia will battle it out for supremacy in the Commonwealth Test event beginning here from tomorrow.

The two-day high adrenalin championship will be played at the Delhi University North Campus grounds. The event is also a part of the Asian Rugby Football Union Sevens Series. Apart from India (host nation) and Pakistan, the other countries participating in the event are Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, Brunei, Iran and Uzbekistan. The Pakistan team, who had on Tuesday, received the confirmation from its government to participate in the event, is likely to arrive here late in the night. "The Pakistan team will be arriving here today. I am in constant touch with Pakistan Rugby Union president. It`s a very positive development for both Pakistan rugby players as well as we organisers that they are coming to participate. We all are very happy," said Rugby India vice-president Aga Hussain. The Pakistani federation was waiting for their government clearance as the Indian government had well in advance given the team members visas to arrive and play here in the event. The first match of the tournament will be played between India and Uzbekistan. Originally, Pakistan was to clash with India in the opener, but keeping in mind their late arrival to the tournament, organisers decided to change the schedule. The tournament will see 24 matches being played in two days. The duration of a single match is of 14 minutes and is played in two halves of 7 minutes each. Rugby Sevens, also known as seven-a-side, is the shorter variant of the Rugby Union, which consists of seven players a side instead of the usual 15. PTI