18/03/2015
SLUG FEST - Move over cricket, city to host intl rugby event
Asian Pre-Qualifier To Kick Off At JN Stadium On Saturday
Fans of the rough and tumble sport will have their fill this weekend as teams from 12 nations go at each other at the first ever international rugby 7s event in the city . The tournament, part of the Asian pre-qualifier circuit for the Rio 2016 Olympics, will kick off at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on March 7.
Guam, Iran, Philippines, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Laos, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Brunei and India, in both men's and women's categories, are in the fray. Officials of the Tamil Nadu Rugby Football Union (TNRFU), which is hosting the event in collaboration with the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, say they expect a full house, especially as the sport has gained popularity over the years.
“We expect over 600 South Koreans, including the consul general, a large contingent of Japanese spectators, and of course Chennaiites,“ said TNRFU secretary Sendhil Thiyagarajan. “The Koreans, Japanese and other expats have formed several rugby clubs.Chennaiites too, with clubs like Chennai Irish and Chennai Bisons playing regularly at several venues,“ added Thiyagarajan, a former rugby player himself.
“For a few years now, we have been looking at developing the sport in corporation schools. The sport is also getting popular in engineering colleges,“ he said.
Indian Rugby Football Union (IRFU) senior vice-president Aga Hussain, here for the tournament, says Chennai has been a rugby hot-spot for decades.“I represented the Bombay Gymkhana in the 1970s and we used to keep coming to Chennai to play against the Madras Gymkhana. They had a very strong team. A number of the players were planters from the various tea estates in Tamil Nadu,“ he said. “In those days, the planters and estate owners were among the best players.“
Among the most prominent in the city are the Chennai Cheetahs, formed in the 1990s and which won several nationwide tournaments since. Arul Venkatesan, a former member of the team who now plays for team India, is from a corporation school in Thiruvanmiyur. “I was a kabaddi player and was introduced to the sport in college,“ said the 25-year-old. A TNRFU employee, Venkatesan coaches children in Chennai Higher Secondary School in Thiruvanmiyur, St Thomas School and Kumara Raja Muthiah Higher Secondary School as well as Sathyabhama College.“The game is still not as popular as cricket and football,“ he added.
The problem, says Thiyagarajan, is getting space to play. “We used to play in the grounds near the Gandhinagar Club, but we lost the pitch to cricket.Now, the only space we get are at beaches, when we hire out private grounds, or the JN Stadium,“ he said. But now, the organizers of the Asian pre-qualifier hope it will give the sport more than a fighting chance.
The 15-a-side version of rugby, which debuted at the 1900 Paris Olympics, was discontinued after the 1924 Paris Games. Rugby 7s will debut at the Rio Olympics.
Source - Times Of India
