New Delhi: India could haven't asked for a
better start in their Asian Rugby Sevens Championships
campaign as the hosts won all their three matches on the
opening day today.
On a day which saw high adrenalin action among eight
participating nations, India emerged topper in Pool B ahead of
Uzbekistan, Iran and Brunei. They take on Pool A bottom-placed
team Pakistan in a quarterfinal match tomorrow.
India mauled Uzbekistan 41-0 in the first game of the day
and then thrashed Iran 28-0 and Brunei 45-0 at the Delhi
University North Campus grounds here.
In Pool A, Pakistan lost all their three matches against
Asian champion Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan to finish
last in the four-team group. Malaysia top Pool A with an all
win record.
Under the tournament rules, all the eight participating
teams will feature in the quarterfinals.
Ranked second in the Commonwealth Games test event, the
Indian team led by Naseer Hussain displayed tight defence,
excellent passing work and coordination against Uzbekistan
though there was not a single spectator to cheer them except
for the hordes of policemen and security personnel.
In their second match against Iran, India were at their
attacking best using their backs and forward line as an
offensive weapon to outclass their opposition 28-0.
In their final encounter of the day, Indian ruggers toyed
with the diminutive Brunei players and gave them no chance
to even get close to the home side goalpost to blank them
45-0.
Praising the performance of his boys, Indian Rugby
development manager Greg Davey said, "We got our momentum
going as we wanted and this helped us a lot in closing the
matches in our favour."
Captain Nasser Hussain said, "I am very pleased by our
performance today. Our recent training trip to New Zealand has
been extremely useful helping us improve our game by a few
levels."
Earlier, the tournament was inaugurated by Commonwealth
Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi in the
presence of Rugby India president Pramod Khanna and other
officials.
The tournament also forms a part of the Asian Rugby
Football Union Sevens Series.
Quarter-final line up: Malaysia v Brunei; Kazakhstan v
Iran; Uzbekistan v Sri Lanka; India v Pakistan.
PTI
First Published: Friday, April 02, 2010, 21:23