The Indian senior women’s rugby sevens team hopes to perform creditably at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games early next month.
The event will held at the Paloma Mizuho Rugby Stadium in Nagoya from October 1 to 3. India have been drawn in Pool B alongside defending champions China, Hong Kong China and Malaysia.
The team began the crucial phase of its preparation at the Sports Authority of India’s Netaji Subhas Eastern Centre at Salt Lake. The facility has always been the rugby team’s operational home ahead of major international competitions.
A total of 20 players are being put through the paces at the national coaching camp, sanctioned by the SAI, at ₹19.8 lakh. The Government of India has approved a contingent of 492 Indian athletes across 35 disciplines for Aichi-Nagoya, with women’s rugby accounting for 13 athletes.
Addressing a media conference at the SAI Eastern Centre, coach Terence Joseph was confident that his wards will be able to match up to the challenge in Japan.
“The Asian Games is a big tournament for us. We are looking at details and consistency from the team. A lot depends on how we execute our plans in Japan,” Joseph said on Wednesday.
“The SAI centre here has been the home for the Indian rugby team. We have been conducting camps here for the past three years,” he added.
The news conference was addressed by Sibananda Mishra, regional director SAI Eastern Centre, coach Terence, captain Shikha Yadav, vice-captain Dumini Marandi and strength and conditioning foreign coach Kiani Fourie.
Indian women’s rugby sevens team captain Shikha Yadav echoed her coach’s sentiments. “We want to carry the form and consistency from recent impressive performances at Asia Rugby Sevens series into the Asian Games. Rather than putting ourselves under added pressure, we want to remain grounded, follow the pattern and stick to the basics,” Shikha remarked.
Shikha, Dumini, Kalyani Patil, Vaishnavi Patil, Mama Nayak, Sandhya Rai were also a part of the Asian Games 2022 squad.
The SAI Eastern Centre was also utilised ahead of the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2022, where the women’s team finished 7th. The current camp scheduled until September 24, is focused on finalising the travelling core team and sharpening tactical details.