Kolkata, Sep 9 (IANS): The Indian senior women’s rugby sevens team have begun the crucial phase of its preparation for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with a national camp at the Sports Authority of India’s Netaji Subhas Eastern Centre in Kolkata. The Salt Lake facility has always been the rugby team’s operational home ahead of major international competitions.
The Indian eves will compete in the women’s rugby sevens tournament at the Paloma Mizuho Rugby Stadium in Nagoya from October 1 to 3. India has been drawn in Pool B alongside defending champions China, Hong Kong China and Malaysia.
Addressing the media at a conference in SAI Kolkata on Wednesday, coach Terence Joseph voiced confidence 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 the team’s details and consistency. A lot depends on how we execute our plans in Japan,” Joseph asserted.
“SAI Kolkata has been the home for the Indian rugby team. We have been conducting camps here for the past three years,” he added. On Wednesday, the press conference was addressed by Sh Sibananda Mishra, Regional Director, SAI Kolkata; coach Terence; captain Shikha Yadav; vice captain Dumini Marandi; and S&C foreign coach Kiano Fourie.
Indian women’s rugby sevens team captain Shikha Yadav echoed her coach’s sentiment. “We want to carry the form and consistency from recent impressive performances at the 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.
From the previous Asian Games 2022 squad, Shikha, Dumini, Kalyani Patil, Vaishnavi Patil, Mama Nayak, and Sandhya Rai are a part of the squad for Aichi-Nagoya.
The SAI Kolkata base 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 the tactical details required against some of the continent’s strongest teams.
“SAI Kolkata has provided all the required facilities, sports science and ancillary support to the Indian rugby team. I assure you that in the future, we will continue to remain a base for both the men’s and women’s squads,” Shri Sibananda Mishra, Honourable Regional Director, SAI Kolkata, said.
“We have an extremely cordial relationship with the rugby federation. We have been working jointly to ensure that high-quality training support is provided for both the men’s and women’s teams,” he added.
Ahead of the Aichi-Nagoya games, a total of 20 players are being put through their paces at the national coaching camp, sanctioned by the Sports Authority of India, at a cost of Rs. 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. The current team is benefiting from increased international competition and a more structured high-performance environment.
“Over the years, after I first came to India, we have had the objective of improving the team and individual players physically and technically for the bigger games they will now play. We see that development. The ladies have put on good muscle from when they started. We have seen them train more consistently and develop better habits. With these improvements, I am confident they will meet the demands of the Asian Games,” Kiano Fourie, the strength and conditioning coach from South Africa, remarked.
The Kolkata camp is more than just another residential training block. It represents the continuation of a model in which the national squad gets an extended period together to work on team combinations, tactical systems, conditioning and match preparation under South African head coach Paul Delport. This camp also gives the coaching staff greater scope to work on tactical structures, combinations, recovery, strength and conditioning and match analysis as an integrated programme.
For a sport that has traditionally operated away from the mainstream Indian sporting spotlight, the repeated use of a dedicated residential high-performance environment is itself an important marker of how far the women’s programme has travelled, and how seriously it is now preparing to challenge the established powers of Asian rugby.
India’s presence at the Asian Games itself is part of a longer journey. Women’s rugby sevens made its Asian Games debut at Guangzhou in 2010, when India fielded its first official national women’s sevens team. After missing the 2014 and 2018 editions, the team returned to Hangzhou in 2022 and finished seventh.
