The 15-member Indian women’s rugby team has earned its spurs by defeating a higher-ranked Singapore team. Team Viva tries to understand how they made it big
Reams are written about cricket, the national obsession, while other sports seem to fall by the wayside especially with the World Cup fever dominating the airwaves, mindspace and the web. And if you happen to name rugby, it might not even pass muster alongside hockey, badminton or tennis. And if you further prefix women, it is more than likely to fall by the wayside.
But then stereotypes exist so that they can be broken. In an almost Chak De! India moment, the 15-member Indian Women’s Rugby team earned its spurs by defeating a much higher-ranked Singapore team at the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship Division 1, held at Manila, Philippines. The team, formed barely a year ago, finished third and won a historic bronze in the 15-a-side four nation tournament, which also involved China and Philippines.
Sumitra Nayak, from Jajpur in Odisha, who began playing Rugby at 11 in 2009, had always dreamt of flying abroad to represent her country in the game.
She said, “I come from a very poor family. I always wanted to travel in a flight and play international tournaments. I was inspired by my brother who played rugby and represented India at the Men’s World Cup a few years ago. The first win for me was clearing the test that is taken before being selected for a particular tournament. In 2014, I had gone to England for Under-13 Rugby Championship.”
The player says that it was all because of the support and training that she received from her family and her institute, KISS (Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences) that she could touch such heights. “Everything happened because of Samanta (Achyuta) sir and my mother. They are my inspiration and a source of encouragement. They supported me throughout, taught me to dream big and work harder in order to achieve the desired goals. Sir has given us facilities including education, sports at free of cost. Apart from that, international coaches from different countries were hired to train us for international matches.”
While women playing rugby is seen as a highly unconventional choice in India, she told us the reason for choosing the sport, “I always wanted to play but I was not sure of the sport that I wanted to focus on. When I joined KISS, I played rugby for the first time and was instantly fascinated with it. The way the players run while holding the ball, the procedure of the game, it’s fun to play.”
Talking about a few other players in the team, who also belong the same institute as Sumitra’s, Achyuta Samanta, founder of KISS and KIIT, said, “Like Sumitra, every player from our institute also has an inspiring story. We are trying our best to bring many unknown talents to the limelight and give them international exposure since the last 28 years. Due to dedicated and continuous efforts, today many students have been bringing laurels to Odisha as well as India in sports. We are currently training students for Olympics, Asian and Commonwealth Games as well.”
It was in 2006, when rugby was introduced in the curriculum of the tribal students of the institute, “at a time when it wasn’t even that prominent in the country.”
Talking about how there should be a steady development in infrastructure in the country, Sumitra said, “I don’t see it happening on a very large scale but I feel that such matches should continue and only then will it get the recognition that it deserves. It’s gaining popularity in Odisha but it should reach out to more people. More training centres and coaches should be set up in other states. Even though the game is not very popular in India as compared to other sports, but a victory like this might give it the fillip that it needs. If we keep representing our nation abroad, it might inspire other people to take it up.”
Mahesh Mathai, secretary general, Rugby India, said, “Women’s rugby XVs has grown leaps and bounds in the country, from not having any women’s Rugby XVs being played in two years ago to having over 35 Rugby XVs team playing competitively today, it has grown manifolds.”
More power to these women achievers.