Thaindian News

Panaji, Nov 21 (IANS) The rough and tumble sport of rugby is on the verge of creating its own version of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Promoters of rugby in India feel that the success of cricket via the IPL medium could be successfully replicated in the sport of rugby and that Goa would be an ideal choice for being the favoured pitch for the sport in India.

Pramod Khanna, president of the Indian Rugby Football Union (IRFU), told IANS that the IPL-like formula would be announced soon and that the initial pool would comprise eight teams, which would subsequently be raised to 16.

“We are working on an Indian Premier League like idea,” said Khanna, who was in Goa to announce the HSBC Asian Rugby Sevens series, a major Asian tournament held in Goa over two days beginning Saturday.

“We have already got a very good response from the sponsors who have been approached,” he added.

Asked whether it was difficult to source sponsorship for an up and coming sport like rugby, Khanna said the IRFU’s appeal to corporate sponsorship was already yielding dividends.

“The corporate class is getting attracted to the sport. In fact we are having a special rugby tournament for corporates in Mumbai. More than 50 corporate teams are taking part in it,” he said.

“Rugby is the second most popular game in the world and is among the fastest growing sport in India. We believe that Goa would be an ideal destination for promoting rugby in India,” Khanna said.

He added that a major international rugby tournament was being organised next year, featuring some of the best teams in the world.

“We want to provide rugby lovers and supporters an opportunity to witness world class matches first hand. The plan is to bring more such international matches to other parts of India as well,” he said.

Khanna said the IRFU was looking to beef up rugby-related infrastructure at the
grassroots and that the union was working hard to break the “elite sport” tag which rugby was associated with in India.

“We are putting in place a structured programme to promote rugby at the grassroots. Students in 600 schools across India are already playing the sport,” Khanna told IANS.

“Unfortunately rugby has been tagged as an ‘elite sport’. But we are trying to break the perception,” he said, adding that international rugby boards were lending financial support to promote the sport in India.

“In 2003 there were 12 rugby clubs in India, now there are 75 plus. That’s a sign that we are growing,” Khanna said.

(Mayabhushan Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayabhushan.n@ians.in)