Lama to lead Indian rugby outfit

Sujai Lama of Services will lead a 26-member Indian team at the Asian Rugby Championship Division 2 Rugby 15s to be held in Pattaya, Thailand from May 20 to 26.

Pradeep Jadhav is the lone player from Maharashtra in the team, which has nine players each from Services and Haryana, three each from West Bengal and Delhi and one from Karnataka, a media release said today.

Tooru Jinguuji of (Japan) has been appointed coach of the team.

India, Chinese Taipei and hosts Thailand will face off in a triangular series and battle for top honors at this championship.

India will launch their campaign with a match against Thailand on May 20 followed by the second match against Chinese Taipei on May 23.

The Indian team is supported by Societe Generale, the financial partner of Rugby India and is participating under the aegis of the Indian Rugby Football Union (IRFU), the governing body for the sport of Rugby in India.

The Team: Sujai Lama (captain), Jitendra Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Rohit Singh Sivach, Parvender Singh, Shokender Balyan, Surinder Singh, Divagar Yadav, Paramjeet Singh (all Services-SSCB); Mohit Khatri, Prince Khatri, Neeraj Khatri, Vikas Khatri, Sourabh Dubal, Deepak Punia, Anil Kumar, Surender Joon, Bhupendra Bokan (all Haryana); Rakesh Lohchab, Nitin Dagar, Gautam Dagar (all Delhi); Puspendu Tudu, Suraj Prasad, Akash Balmiki (all West Bengal); Roshan Lobo (Karnataka), Pradeep Jadhav (Maharastra).

Coach: Tooru Jinguuji ( Japan )
Manager: Manas Kumar Jena ( Odisha)