Bhubaneswar, March 3 (IANS): Odisha RFC and Delhi Hurricanes successfully defended their National Rugby 15s Championship (Division 1) title in women’s and men’s category, respectively, here at the KIIT University.

Odisha beat the Delhi Hurricane 69-5 in the Women’s category whilst the men’s team of Delhi Hurricanes struck gold by beating Future Hope Harlequins 31-8.

This is the second time that both the teams have completely overpowered their opponents in the finals. The team from Odisha boasted of local heroes, Hupi Majhi, Dumuni Marndi, Tarulata Naik, and Nirmalya Rout, that are also a part of the Indian National Rugby Team and Delhi Hurricanes had a powerhouse lineup of Prince Khatri, Vikas Khatri, Honey Dagar, Ajay Deswal, Neeraj Khatri, Manu Tanwar, Deepak Punia and Mohit Khatri.

Starting the tournament as the top seeds, Odisha RFC was in the mix with 6 other participating teams and Delhi Hurricanes were up against 9 other teams which included some of the biggest names from the Indian national teams.

Key players spread across teams included Priya Bansal, VahbizBharucha, Shikha Yadav, Gomti, Bhumika Shukla, Sandhya Rai, LachmiOraon, and Ujjwala Ghuge in the Women and Bhupendra Singh, Harjap Sandhu, Suraj Prasad, Sukumar Hembrom, Arpan Chetri on the men’s competition list.

“Many congratulations to the Odisha RFC and the Delhi Hurricanes for winning the women’s and the men’s National Rugby 15s Championship, respectively. Both these teams have proven their mettle and we continue to value their contributions to the Indian National Rugby Teams, and congratulate them on defending their titles successfully.

"The National Rugby 15s Championship represents the purest format of the game and is the country’s biggest platform to scout for the Indian National team. Club Rugby is where the journey begins for most of our players, and hence is the foundation of our framework, specifically for this format of the game. Many thanks to the Government of Odisha and KIIT University, for their belief and constant support towards Indian Rugby," said Rahul Bose, president, Rugby India.

As the biggest club rugby tournament in the country, the event was also a huge opportunity for upcoming players to get scouted for the 15s format, both for the men and the women’s national teams and play alongside the standout players of the final like Hupi Majhi from Odisha RFC and Mohit Khatri from Delhi Hurricanes.