Two Pune girls back after playing in Asian Rugby Sevens Championship in Colombo

Annapurna Bothate has been into playing rugby since 2010 while Neha Pardeshi has been involved in the sports since the year 2009.

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Annapurna Bothate has been into playing rugby since 2010. (Source: Express)

Their participation in the Asian Rugby Sevens Championship held in Colombo may not have translated into a win but city-based rugby players Neha Pardeshi and Annapurna Bothate have come back enriched in exposure and experience that will go a long way. And why not? After all, the Indian team competed with some of the best rugby teams in the world, including the Japan team which recently played at Rio Olympics 2016.

23-year-old Bothate has been into playing rugby since 2010. In the past, she has represented India in the Asian Games from 2010 to 2014. In June 2015 she was awarded the Atavus Rugby scholarship in the US. She has also been a part of the Rugby World Cup qualifiers team and was a silver medalist at the Kerala National games in 2015. Talking about the championship, she says, “Initially, Indian team was in the Division B category. However, when last two teams from Division A and first two teams of Division B, didn’t participate in the championship, the Indian team got a cut into Division A, which had teams from all the developed countries. We got to play with teams like Thailand, Japan, South Korea and Sri Lanka. Though we didn’t win, we got to learn a lot by playing with and observing other teams, especially about techniques, team coordination and defense patterns. We realised that the players were highly skilled and had optimum fitness level.” Bothate works as the fitness instructor at Multifit, a functional fitness gym that has also sponsored Bothate’s training and has supported her financially in pursuing the game. She plays for Rugby Football Sports under coaches Surhud Khare and Swapneel Khare.

Bothate has been an athlete since her school days and has participated in various kabaddi and handball tournaments. Her father was into wrestling and her mother was a kabaddi player. “They didn’t push me into sports. I just developed an interest for it over the years,” says Bothate, who did her schooling from St. Mira School and attended college at the Symbiosis Institute of Arts and Commerce.

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Both Pardeshi and Bothate admit that the two-week training camp wasn’t enough to equip the players for an international level championship. Pardeshi, who’s been playing rugby since the year 2009, says, “There we were competing with teams who had been preparing for the championship throughout the year. One can’t expect a team that has undergone just two weeks of training to go and win the game. At the same time, I feel that given that India is still not so much pro-rugby, it was a great achievement for the Indian team to play against such experienced teams.” Pardeshi is the captain and Bothate is the vice-captain of the team.

Pardeshi points out that the rugby scene in India is gradually changing. “We see more awareness now. Even Indian Rugby Football Union has been conducting various grassroot-level programmes for the promotion of the game. As compared to other nations, we need to improve a lot in terms of facilities and infrastructure. The players need to be supported financially by the government so that they can take up the sports professionally,” says 23-year-old Pardeshi, who has been a national level athlete and handball player in the past. After doing her schooling from Sardar Dastur School, she did her graduation in computer science from Fergusson College.

As far as future plans of Bothate and Pardeshi are concerned, while Bothate aims to join armed forces and continue representing her country in rugby, Pardeshi has been working in the marketing division of a private firm based in Pune.