Rugby India plays Qatar, Kazakhstan in Asia Rugby Division 2 Championship starting on Sunday

Mumbai, April 29 (IANS) Led by Vikas Khatri, the Indian Rugby Men's team plays Qatar and Kazakhstan in Division 2 starting on Sunday at the Aspire Warmup Track field, Doha, Qatar.

The three teams will be competing in a round robin format starting on April 30 till the May 6 to qualify for the Division 2 playoffs later this year.

"We are really looking forward to the tournament in Qatar. We have seen Qatar and Kazakhstan play and they are extremely well-coached and managed teams and we know it's going to be extremely difficult but it's a fantastic opportunity for the players from India to go and play fantastic opposition. We are all looking forward to it and we can't wait," said Naas Botha, Head Coach, Indian Men's Rugby 15s.

The Indian team qualified for Division 2 after decisively beating Bangladesh and Nepal, 82-0 and 86-0 respectively in the Asia Rugby Division 3 - South Region tournament held at Rabindra Sarobar stadium, Kolkata in November 2022. Playing in Division 2 allows the Indian team to prove their mettle against some of the best teams in Asia and is a stepping stone in Rugby India's roadmap. The winners of this championship will further get an opportunity to play for promotion into the highly coveted division 1 and be a part of the elite group of Rugby Teams in Asia.

The Indian squad consists of Vikas Khatri (Captain), Prince Khatri (Vice Captain), Harjap Singh, Sanket Santaji Patil, Shridhar Shrikant Nigade, Suraj Prasad, Sukumar Hembrom, Akash Balmiki, Arpan Chhetri, Rajdeep Saha, Dhanasekar Karunakar, Neeraj Khatri, Deepak Kumar Punia, Mohit Khatri, Ajay Deswal , Mannu Tanwar, Pradeep Kumar Tanwar, Hitesh Dagar, Shivam Shukla, Prabal Giri, Gaurav Kumar, Surinder Singh, Jitendra Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Devendra Raju Padir, and Bhupinder Singh.