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Rural Maharashtra plays rugby in Mumbai

Maharashtra Mini Rugby 7s tourney kicks off today at Bombay Gymkhana grounds; 16 teams will compete for the top honours.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Maharashtra Olympic Association (MOA) recently announced a month long celebration of Olympics starting from Olympic Day, June 23, 2015. As a part of this celebration, The Rugby Association of Maharashtra (RAM) is hosting the Maharashtra Mini Olympics Rugby 7s tournament for senior Men and Women at Bombay Gymkhana Grounds, CST, Mumbai on Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28, 2015 between 10.00 amto 5.00 pm.

A total of 16 teams will battle for the honours in this championship. As per their ranking, only eight teams from each category qualified to participate in the Mini Olympic 2015 in Rugby 7s discipline. In the qualifiers, 23 teams from across the state competed in Ambarnath, Thane on May 8 to 9, 2015.

The qualified district teams for the Mini Olympic 2015 are, Men’s category – Pune, Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban, Nashik, Kolhapur, Gondia, Thane and Jalgaon. And in women’s category – Pune, Raigadh, Mumbai Suburban, Jalgaon, Gondia, Chandrapur, Thane and Nandurbar

Speaking on this occasion, Sandeep Mosamkar, Joint Secretary- RAM said, “Olympic month is an effort to encourage the sentiment of introducing sports in the lives of youth across the nation. Rugby has been instrumental in transforming the lives of youths across various parts of the State. “As a representing body that is passionate about developing the game of Rugby in India, RAM is delighted to be actively involved in the Olympic month celebrations by hosting the Mini Olympics Rugby 7s”.

He added, “There is no dearth of talent in rural Maharashtra. Youth from various regions displayed extreme passion and enthusiasm during Rugby qualifier matches held in Thane. We are confident that tomorrow’s championship will be the key to discover the potential of the next breed of national players from across the State.”

The Maharashtra State Rugby Team has brought laurels to the State by winning the Gold Medal on two consecutive occasions; the Rugby Sevens Event of the 33rd and 34th National Games of India held in Guwahati (2007) and Ranchi (2011) respectively. And have continued the momentum by winning Silver (Women) and Bronze (Men) Medals in the 35th National Games of India, held in Kerala (2015).

(Picture courtesy www.afternoondc.in. Image is a file picture)

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Event

Colaba, Mulund schools make a mark at rugby c’ship

The recently concluded 8th Mumbai Schools Touch Rugby Tournament 2014 saw a great turnout and huge participation from city schools.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Like every year, the Mumbai Schools Touch Rugby Tournament was held in Mumbai, at Bombay Gymkhana grounds. And like every year, interest and participation in the event continued to swell.

The 8th edition of the tournament was held on January 29, 2014 with over 65 teams and over 500 students (both boys and girls) from across Mumbai (city and suburbs) participated. Participants compete in three categories – Under 12, Under 14 and Under 17.

Touch Rugby, the non-contact format of the sport, is a fast paced game that promotes fitness, teamwork, discipline and skills and is used universally to foster camaraderie. On the occasion, Nasser Hussain, Secretary, Rugby Association of Maharashtra (RAM) said, “We are thrilled to see the enthusiasm, participation and eagerness from schools across Mumbai (from international schools to Government schools) to participate in the tournament and are once again, grateful to the Bombay Gymkhana for hosting the tournament and being a forerunner in supporting the sport.”

He added, “Having the sport back in the 2016 Olympics and with Rugby’s recent inclusion in the SGFI (School Games Federation of India) there is immense potential for growth and development of the sport across the country. And with grassroots tournaments like this, we aim to provide a platform to identify young budding sports men and women who will potentially be the next breed of athletes that go on to excel at the elite level.”

Results:

St. Mary’s Girls (Mulund) – 1st and 3rd place in U-17, 1st, 2nd, 3rd in U-14, 3rd in U-12.

Colaba Municipal defended their titles at the U-17 Boys categories and secured 2nd Place in U-12 Girls and U-14 Boys.

NM Joshi defended their titles at the U-12 Boys age categories.

Podar International won the U-14 Boys and secured 3rd Place at U-17 Boys.

Yashodham School won U-12 Girls, 3rd in U-14 Boys abd 2nd in U-12 Boys and U-17 Girls.

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Big story

14th time lucky

Bombay Gymkhana thrashed usual winners Army Red to win prestigious rugby championship  after 10 years. This was their 14th win.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Bombay Gymkhana started the final match of the All India & South Asia Rugby Championship at a crackling pace. And they never let the pace dip, not once. Starting aggressively was the key, and it yielded a wonderful result – Bombay Gymkhana thumped title favourites Army Red 7-0, thus ensuring victory for the first time since 2002.

The match was played at the CCFC Ground, Kolkata, on September 16. The victory was Bombay Gymkhana’s 14th. Army Red have won the Championship five times.

It was set to be a tightly-contested match, and both teams did not disappoint. Bombay Gymkhana hooker Altaf Shaikh scored the first try in the first 15 minutes of the game and built pressure on his opponents, while Rohaan Sethna successfully booted the conversion. At the end of the first half, the score read: Bombay Gym – 7, Army Red – 0.

In the second half, both teams took their game up a notch, but with their tight defence, Bombay Gymkhana was able to hold off the Reds until the 80th minute. At the end of the game, the score had remained  unchanged at 7-0.

Bombay Gymkhana captain Nasser Hussain said, “We played Army Red in the final last year and the year before that, and in the semis in the year before that. We knew what we were up against, and Army Red left no stone unturned to show why they have been champions all these years. We were under tremendous pressure, but it was each team player’s commitment that saw us through.” He added, “This time we had worked very hard for the title, and our ‘attack by backs and defence by forwards’ strategy worked very well. Our forwards did a commendable job in holding the Army’s heavy forward pack for the entire 80 minutes.”

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