Asian Games rugby: Indian ruggers continue to struggle
By IANSMonday, November 22, 2010
GUANGZHOU - The Indian men’s and women’s team were outclassed in their pool matches Monday to find themselves at the bottom of the standings after the end of league round of rugby competition at the Asian Games here Monday.
The men’s team led by Nasser Hussain lost to China and neighbours Sri Lanka while the women were overwhelmed by teams from Japan and Singapore at the University Town Main Stadium.
Having finished at the bottom of Pool B, the men’s team will face Pool A leader Japan in the knockout round. The women also lost all their matches and are placed at the bottom of Pool B. They will meet Pool A topper China.
The Indian men, ranked 75th in the world, lost to 67th-ranked China 0-61 in their second Pool B match. In their next match, the team played a touch better against world no. 43 Sri Lanka, scoring 12 points in the first half. But the second half did not fetch a single point and they lost 12-42.
India lost to South Korea in their opening match Sunday.
The performance of the women’s team was also poor.
They were thrashed 0-36 by Japan and 5-22 by Singapore.
The team went down to Kazakhstan Sunday.
