The 9th Junior Rugby Championships ended with Odisha and Bihar taking top honours once again as the boys from Odisha beat Rajasthan 10-5 and the girls from Bihar dominated defending champions, Odisha 44-0. The tournament was played from the 19th of June 2024 to the 26th of June 2024 at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, Pune. The seniors’ leg of the championship will now commence with the best rugby players in the country taking the field starting today at the same venue.
“Many congratulations to Odisha and Bihar for winning the Junior National 7s Championship. The progressively suoerior standard of rugby on display at the Junior National Championships is testament to the efforts of our member state / union associations. We now look forward to the next leg of the championships, as our Women and Men tegory vie for a spot on the Indian National teams.’, said Mr. Rahul Bose, President, Indian Rugby Football Union.
The senior championship will witness mainstays from the existing men’s and women’s national team. The men’s defending champions, Haryana, have Prince Khatri, Mohit Khatri, Deepak Punia, Ajay Deswal, and Neeraj Khatri in their squad with Odisha at their heels with the likes of Ajit Hansdah, Ganesh Majhi, Shehnawaz Ahmed, and Asis Sabar. Defending champions on the women’s side, Odisha can boast the likes of Tarulata Naik, Hupi Majhi, Dumini Marndi, and Niramaya Raut, while Akanksha Katkade, Kalyani Patil, Vahbiz Bharucha and Ujjwala Gughe from Maharashtra will be keen to topple the leaders.
Odisha, are looking to repeat their unbeaten record from last year and will come up against strong competition from Maharashtra and West Bengal represented by Sandhya Rai and Lachmi Orao. The men’s pool promises to be very competitive with the likes of Haryana, Odisha, West Bengal, and Maharashtra, hoping to become National champions.