As the city gears up to host the Asian rugby 7’s pre-qualifiers for the Rio Olympics, former India captain Nasser Hussain says the team has bright chances to qualify for the main Asian qualifiers.
India, ranked 69th in the world, will face Iran, UAE, Uzbekistan and Laos in the tournament. “We should win against Uzbekistan and Laos, while UAE and Iran could pose stronger challenge. But if we make the finals, I fancy our chances of winning the title,” says Hussain, who is now the general manager of the Indian Rugby-Football Union, after having represented the country for almost 20 years.
“We made the quarterfinals of the Asian Games in 2010,” he says.
“Even in Commonwealth Games in Delhi, though we lost all our matches we were able to stay close to some of the higher ranked sides, and that gave us a lot of confidence.”
Hussain acknowledged that not enough has been done to promote the sport. He cites the lack of infrastructure and visibility as the major issues that are holding back the sport in the country.
“We have very little funds, and we had to make a call between promotion and grassroots, and we went for the latter,” he explains.
Hussain, however, believes the future of the sport looks positive, especially with significant work at the grassroots level in the last 10 years. “But, I believe it is now time for promoting and marketing the sport to move up to the next level,” he says.
