Maharashtra win gold in Rugby 7s at National Games

Maharashtra defended their gold in Rugby Sevens demolishing Haryana 59-5 at the National Games here on Monday.

Maharashtra was undefeated in the entire tournament and had conceded only 2 tries in all their games put together.

The Indian national team players Hrishikesh Pendse and Rohaan Sethna were the stars who shone in the finals with Hrishikesh scoring 3 tries and Rohaan scoring two.

"All the hard work and preparations we put have paid dividends and I am extremely proud of the very professional performance by Maharashtra," said Nasser Hussain, the captain of the Indian and the Maharashtra team.

In the fight for bronze, Delhi took on the spirited and athletic Orissa in what turned out to be a thriller. The score at full time was 17-17 and the game entered the sudden death stage where Amit Lochab scored a brilliant try to help Delhi win the bronze.

The Rugby Sevens tournament saw 8 states  Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Manipur, Haryana and Jharkhand battling it out.

The eight teams were put into 2 pools of 4 each. All teams played three league matches each and the tournament proceeded into the knock out stage.