Ahead of its opening game against Iran in the Asian Rugby 7’s Olympic pre-qualifiers, the Indian team players expressed confidence of winning the tournament and securing the final berth for the Asian Olympic qualifiers to be held in Hong Kong later this year.
Iran and UAE are the main challengers for the title in this tournament and the last time Iran and India met in 2014 in Mumbai, India got the better of Iran.
The home side is hoping it could emulate the feat.
India’s forward, Kamaldeep, who is the captain of the 15’s squad and was part of the Haryana side that won gold in the recently-concluded national games, said the team is well prepared for the tournament.
“We have trained for nearly a month after the national games and are well prepared,” he said.
The team trained for close to a week in Udhagamandalam before resuming its training in Chennai and the players felt that team has acclimatised to the conditions well.
In the women’s draw, Iran, along with South Korea and India, is among the favourites.
