New Delhi: Rugby is gaining popularity in India. The Indian rugby team has had some good results in the recent months winning the English Inter Club Rugby tournament in England. The Indian team was in the United Kingdom as part of their 10-day training programme before the Commonwealth Games.
Indian rugby team captain Nasser Hussain spoke to IBNLive.com's Priyarag Verma before leaving for the Shanghai Sevens tournament at Shanghai in China.
IBNLive: Rugby is not a very popular sport in India. So how did you get interested in it?
Nasser Hussain: I got exposed to rugby at a very young age at Bombay Gymkhana and rugby runs in the family. As you know, my father Aga Hussain has captained India. I even had the honour playing a game against Singapore with my father. I guess it is one of the rare instances in international sports history of a father-son duo taking to the field at the same time.
IBNLive: How is the infrastructure related to rugby in India and what changes do you want in it so that the standard of sport improves?
Nasser Hussain: A year back, we just had the ground at Bombay Gymkhana and CCFC in Kolkata and that too use of the ground was seasonal, ie during the rainy season. But the government has been very helpful as the Commonwealth Games 2010 started approaching. We now have a fantastic rugby stadium in Delhi which we hope after the Commonwealth Games will continue to be a rugby facility. There were talks that it will be converted to a cricket facility. We also have rugby pitches coming up in other cities, but we will need continued support from the government to take the sport to the next level.
IBNLive: Since India is not a top rugby playing country do you want more foreign trips organised so that players come to know about the latest developments in the game?
Nasser Hussain: We have had some fantastic exposure when we visited South Africa and New Zealand. Our fitness and techniques had major improvements as we had access to state of the art facilities. The foreign trips have taken the Indian team to a whole new level. We now plan for foreign exposure trips for the women. The women's team leaves for New Zealand end of this week for a one-month training camp.
IBNLive: Where does India stand in comparison with the top rugby teams like New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and England?
Nasser Hussain: These are the rugby power houses of the world who have been playing rugby for generations. Rugby is just about exploding in India with the total number of rugby players in the country going above 20,000. We have had some encouraging results of late like ending up 4th in an eight-nation Commonwealth Test event which had top teams like Malaysia and we also thrashed China 94-0 at the HSBC Asian 5 Nation Tournament. It will still take a while to come near the level of rugby of the above mentioned teams.
IBNLive: What have been your experience working with Fijian coach Usaia Buimuiwai? Do we need foreign coach or India coaches are good enough?
Nasser Hussain: Usaia is a fantastic coach and the entire team loves his style of coaching. Initially there were a few communication problems, but now Usaia has picked up some good Hindi also. He has been with us for more than two years.
IBNLive: It is generally seen that Indian players lack height, stamina and strength to match up with the best teams. What should be done to ensure that the players are in a better physical shape?
Nasser Hussain: A year back what you said was true, but in the last year, the entire team and support staff have been working really hard and we are easily the fittest Indian team across all sports. We can match up to fitness levels of the Asian teams. The Australian, New Zealand, South African teams are all bigger than our normal players, but we hope in the future to counter it with speed in Rugby 7's.
IBNLive: Your team has won a tournament in Istanbul and England. The team has also been training in England for some time. What improvements have you observed in the team?
Nasser Hussain: The best part of the experience in Istanbul and the UK was adapting to foreign conditions. We are used to the Indian conditions, with all these foreign trips the players broaden their horizons and become a more complete player. The best thing out of this tour was we have gained a lot of confidence after winning the Istanbul 7's and the Bee's 7's. We are a more confident team.
IBNLive: You have also played a tournament in Fiji and New Zealand in March 2010. New is on of the best teams in Rugby. How was the experience playing in New Zealand?
Nasser Hussain: We were training at IRANZ which has the best rugby training facility in the world. We played some good quality rugby and had the opportunity to interact with some All Black legends like Murray Mexted, Scott Pierce, Craig Digoldy etc. In Fiji we played in the Marist sevens which is a very prestigious tournament that has top club teams participating. All in all it was a fantastic tour.
IBNLive: What are the five immediate steps that Indian sports authorities and Rugby India should take for the improvement of the sport?
Nasser Hussain: 1.Introduce touch rugby which is the non contact version in more schools. Rugby is catching on in schools and in the recent inter school rugby tournament that took place in Mumbai, we had 1200 kids participating.
2. Infrastructure. We need to give access to really good grounds with thick grass to players from around the country. With the thick grass, the injuries reduce. As of now we have children practicing on the beaches of Kerala, in the hills of Pune, in the jungles of Orissa. We need to give these children grounds.
3. We need a sponsor for the team. The Men's and Women's team have had some very encouraging results of late. Once a sponsor comes on board we will be able to take care of all the players better.
4. Once the CWG 2010 is over the fantastic rugby facilities in Delhi University should continue as Rugby practice grounds. There were talks of these being converted into cricket grounds, if we get at least two to three of these grounds, it will be a big push for the sport as we can conduct the national level tournaments in these grounds.
5. We need more media exposure so that the game develops faster. It is growing at a rapid speed already.
IBNLive: How have been your preparations for the Delhi Commonwealth Games?
Nasser Hussain: The preparations started a year back. We have had tours to New Zealand, South Africa etc. We have been participating in various 7's tournaments also. The best part of our preparation has been the improvement in fitness and all the fine tuning of our techniques.
IBNLive: Will there is less pressure on the rugby team during Commonwealth Games as compared to some other India players and teams because rugby is not so popular in India?
Nasser Hussain: We are playing a mini Rugby World Cup at the CWG as out of the top 10 teams in the world; seven are there for the Games. So the level of rugby will be the best to witness. We hope to create an upset or two. I request people of Delhi to come see the Games as we will have the highest quality of rugby taking place in Delhi.
IBNLive: Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Best of luck for the Commonwealth Games.
Nasser Hussain: Thank you.
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