New Delhi: Bengal’s Sumit Kumar Roy and Rajasthan’s Bhumika Shukla will lead Indian teams at the Asia Rugby Emirates U20 7s Championship 2025, scheduled to take place on August 9 and 10 at Rajgir, Bihar.
The teams were selected following a national coaching camp that commenced on July 3 at the SAI centre in Kolkata.
In the men’s category, participating teams include India, China, UAE, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia.
In the Women’s category, Nepal replaces Malaysia in the line-up.
“The Asia Rugby U20 7s Championship is a tournament where a player’s international future starts taking shape. We especially look forward to seeing this year, both our men’s and women’s teams competing side by side on home soil,” said Rahul Bose, President of the Indian Rugby Football Union.
In the junior men’s team, that has Karan Rajbhar as vice-captain, Rajan Rawat from Rajasthan earned his maiden national call-up.
The U20 Women’s team’s vice-captain is Maharashtra’s Tanushree Bhosale.
“We’ve put in weeks of hard work and now we’re ready to make it count. Representing India at home is a special honour for all of us. We want to play attacking rugby and make our country proud,” said Sumit.
The women’s U20 captain Bhumika added, “This team is full of heart and hunger. We’ve bonded well and built a rhythm. We look forward to playing in front of our home crows and make a name for Indian women’s rugby.”
This will be the first time since 2022 that both Indian U20 teams participate together at the continental level.
The Indian U20 Men’s team will be coached by Francisco ‘Paco’ Hernandez, with Terence Joseph
serving as Assistant Coach.
The Indian U20 Women’s team will be coached by Kiano Fourie, assisted by Tilak Raj.
Final Squads
Indian U20 Men’s Team: Sumit Kumar Roy (C), Karan Rajbhar (VC), Ajit Nag, Bharat Kisan, Charan Hembram, David Munda, Deshraj Singh, Goldan Kumar, Rajan Rawat, Rohit Shaw, Sagar Prakash, Shivam
Indian U20 Women’s Team: Bhumika Shukla (C), Tanushree Bhosale (VC), Aarti Kumari, Akshaya NS, Alpana Kumari, Anshu Kumari, Guriya Kumari, Kyra Vincent, Mahak, Mamali Singh, Muskan Piploda, Ritu Majhi.
