India rugby captain Nasser Hussain is doubly happy. Firstly because he's all set to lead a young national side to Malaysia for the Asian Five Nations Tournament (June 2-7), where they have a strong chance of winning.
India rugby captain Nasser Hussain is doubly happy. Firstly because he's all set to lead a young national side to Malaysia for the Asian Five Nations Tournament (June 2-7), where they have a strong chance of winning. And secondly given the fact that the Commonwealth Games New Delhi 2010 is not too far away, the Indian government's support and encouragement to the sport is very satisfying.
"The government recently permitted us use the well-equipped Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune for training.
This was a blessing because our boys have benefited a lot from our stint there," Hussain told MiD DAY yesterday after a press conference where he announced India's 24-member rugby squad that left for Kuala Lumpur last night.
"The govt has also promised us all the support in the run up to the CW Games which is great encouragement.
Today we are ranked 81 in the world and 11 in Asia. With this kind of encouragement we can easily break into the Asian Top 5 and consequently into the world Top 50 by the end of next year," added Hussain.
However, there are still some areas of concern. "We still lack quality match practice. We've had to play practice matches among ourselves due to a lack of quality opposition. Rugby India along with the govt should try and ensure that we can invite some good foreign teams or we can travel to some of the world's promising rugby playing nations like South Africa or England where we can hone our skills," said Hussain.
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