Asia Rugby 7s: Indian men off to a winning start

Prince Khatri’s twin tries, the first of which was converted by Sujai Lama, two minutes from start, was the highlight of the Indian men’s 41-0 drubbing of Nepal.

Indian thrashed Nepal in the men's section.

The Indian contingent got off to a winning start in the Chennai leg of the Asia Rugby Development Sevens Series at the Nehru Stadium on Saturday.

India’s first opponent was the lower-seeded Nepal. Prince Khatri’s twin tries, the first of which was converted by Sujai Lama, two minutes from start, was the highlight of the Indian men’s 41-0 drubbing. A. Balmiki also starred with two conversions in the second half.

Indian women, too, followed it up with an impressive display against the same opponent. Rani Sadasivappa was the chief contributor with two tries and a conversion, all in the second half, as her team beat Nepal 36-0. Neha Pardeshi and Meenarani Hembram tried and converted respectively, twice on either side of play.

Later, the men’s team went on to post a 47-0 win against Syria whereas the women went down 0-26 to South Korea and drew with Guam 12-12.

The results:

Men: Pool ‘A’: India 41 bt Nepal 0; Philippines 63 bt Syria 0; India 47 bt Nepal 0; UAE 41 bt Nepal 0; Syria 7 bt Nepal 5; Philippines 24 bt UAE 14; UAE bt Syria 69-5.

Pool ‘B’: Lebanon 47 bt Bangladesh 0; Chinese Taipei 31 bt Indonesia 0; Thailand 22 bt Bangladesh 14; Lebanon 41 bt Indonesia 0; Bangladesh 12 bt Indonesia 0; Thailand 19 bt Chinese Taipei 7; Thailand 34 bt Indonesia 0; Chinese Taipei bt Lebanon 24-19.

Women: Pool ‘C’: India 36 bt Nepal 0; South Korea 53 bt Indonesia 0; Guam 32 bt Nepal 0; South Korea 26 bt India 0; Guam 12 drew with India 12; Nepal 20 bt Indonesia 0.