India beat China to enter Asian 5 Nation Rugby final

New Delhi: Hosts India demolished China 94-0 in the tournament opener to sail into the final of the HSBC

Asian Five Nation Rugby Division II event here on Wednesday. The Naseer Hussain-led Indian side put up a fantastic display and outplayed the formidable Chinese in all departments of the game at the flood-lit Delhi University Rugby Stadium. With this win, India are one just step away from progressing to the Division-I. India will play either Philippines and top seeds Thailand in the summit clash on Saturday and a win there would see them progress to the Division-I for the first time in the history of the game. In the match against China today, India were the dominant side from the onset. In the first five minutes, the hosts earned two penalties and Rohan Sethna made no mistakes in converting them. From there on, there was no looking back as the spirited Indians seized the momentum very early into the game and managed to hold on to it till the last minute. It was a complete team effort from the Indians with Kayrus Unwala, Gautam Dagar, Rohaan Sethna, Parvinder Singh, Pritom Roy, Sandeep Singh, Puneet Krishnamoorthy, Dalwinder Singh, Thimmalay Madanda and Kamaldeep Dagar all scoring from tries. Rohan was the stand-out player for India as he converted most of the tries and was also bang on target with the penalties. Hot and humid conditions seemed to have taken its toll on the Chinese, who struggled for fitness throughout the encounter. India captain Nasser Hussain credited the victory to team effort. "We played a fantastic game and stuck to our strategy. All the players played a team game and we were well prepared. For our next game we need to cut on our errors and if we can do that, we will have a good chance of winning the tournament," Hussain said after the match. PTI