Indian men and women ruggers both finished seventh out of eight teams at the Asian Games rugby competition after winning their respective play-off matches on the final day of the event at the University Town Main Stadium in Guangzhou on Tuesday.
Both the men and women's rugby teams, who had on Monday qualified for the quarter-finals despite suffering heavy defeats in all their three league encounters against higher-placed Asian rivals, earned a consolation win each to avoid the ignominy of ending last.
In the men's 7th/8th classification match, India defeated Thailand 22-7. They opened up a 12-7 lead in the first half before blanking the Thai opponents 10-0 in the second session.
For India, Gautam Dagar, Kayrus Unwala and Rohaan Sethna scored in the first half, while captain Naseer Hussain and Unwala made the task tougher for the Asian rivals in the second half.
In the quarter-finals, India were no match to Japan, losing 5-26. Hrishikesh Pendse scored India's only try (5 points) four minutes into the first half. At the breather, scores were tied 5-5 but in the second half, Japanese ruggers went for the kill and dealt only in tries to seal the issue beyond doubt.
In the 5th/6th placing match, the Indian ruggers were outclassed by top-seed Malaysia 5-38. Gautam Dagar scored India's only try in the 14th minute of the second half.
Malaysians led 21-0 in the first half and scored another 17 points in the second to quell the Indian challenge.
In the women's event, India defeated South Korea 21-10 in the 7/8th classification match to secure their first win in the three-day tournament.
India scored seven points in the first half with the help of skipper Surabhi Date and Neha Pardeshi and went on to earn another 14 in the second, courtsey Sheetal Maurya, Surabhi, Tapasi Nandi and Boman Bharucha.
In their quarter-final clash, the Indians were blanked 0-42 by the hosts China. Chinese ruggers scored 15 points in the first half and 27 in the second.
In the 5-6th play-off, the Japanese team showed their class to thrash India 46-0. For Japan, first half yielded 22 points while they scored 24 in the second.
