Indian rugby squad leaves for SE Asia

Mumbai: The Indian rugby squad today embarked on a visit to South East Asia to play a series of sevens tournaments from October 24 to November 15 as part of their preparations for next year`s Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The team, led by Nasser Hussain, would compete with top Asian teams from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, to name a few, in a series of international tournaments, a media release said. The team would play the Asian 7s circuit events in Brunei (Oct 24 and 25) and Borneo (Oct 31 and Nov 1) before taking part in the Singapore Cricket Club 7s (Nov 7 and 8) and Cobra 10s Tournament in Kuala Lumpur (Nov 15 and 16). Captain Hussain was optimistic, saying the team`s performance would bring happiness to the rugby fans of the country. "It has been a hectic schedule for the team and we have played some of the top class teams in last few months. This has definitely given us the confidence to perform at the highest level. We look forward to these series of events and hope to give the rugby enthusiast in the country a chance to cheer for." he said. The 16-member team: Nasser Hussain (capt.), Charanjit Singh, Sukhdeep Singh, Surinder Singh, Hemanth Kumar, Dhananjay Kumar Prasad, Rohit Singh Sivach, Amit Lochab, Gautam Dagar, Rohaan Sethna, Pritom Roy, Thimmaiah Madanda, Deepak Dagar, Alagesan Sendil Kumar, Sandeep Singh and Venkatesan Arul. Bureau Report