Mumbai, April 30 (IANS): The Indian Men’s 15s Rugby team will chalk up another milestone in their journey to the Asian frontier as they will compete at the Asia Rugby Men’s 15s Championship Division -1, for the first time ever.

Qualifying for the Division -1 has brought the Indian team one step closer to competing on the highest level in Asia, the Asia Rugby 15s Championship.

Led by seasoned campaigner Deepak Punia along with his deputy Hitesh Dagar, the men’s team will go up against Sri Lanka for their first match on the April 30.

On the other side, Qatar and Kazakhstan will fight for a spot in the finals, with the winner between India and Sri Lanka.

The winners of this competition stand to qualify for the Asia Rugby 15s championship to face off against higher ranked countries like Korea, Hong Kong China, and Malaysia, ranked 30, 24, and 50 on the world stage, respectively.

This campaign sees 5 players making their debut. Vallabh Patil, Shakti Nag, Abhishek Shukla, Joginder, and Ajit Hansdah have shown tremendous promise and mental strength, qualities that propel them into the Indian team.

Squad:

Deepak Kumar Punia (C), Hitesh Dagar (VC), Sanket Patil, Vallabh Patil, Suraj Prasad, Harvinder Singh, Javed Hussain, Shivam Shukla, Bhupendra Bokar, Mohit Khatri, Neeraj, Prince Khatri, Bharat Dagar, Mannu, Pradeep Tanwar, Joginder, Abhishek Shukla, Prabal Giri, Sukumar Hembrom, Rajdeep Saha, Shakti Nag, Asis Sabar. Ajit Hansdah, Devendra Padir, Bhupinder Singh, Suresh Kumar.