Tribal children to represent India at Intl Rugby Tournament

BHUBANESWAR: For Bikash Chandra Murumu, 14, hailing from a tribal family in Mayurbhanj District of Orissa, life has not been easy with he and his family not able to afford even two square meals a day.

But, problems gave not deterred him from his dream to become a rugby player. Now, thanks to the effort of his school KISS, the largest tribal school in Asia, Bikash now is headed for London to represent India at the International School Rugby tournament as the captain of India Under 14 team.

Eleven more tribal children coming from various districts of Orissa are geared up to go along with Murumu as team-mates to play in the international tournament slated for later this month.

The 12 school children belong to the rugby team of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), a sister concern of KIIT(deemed university) which has been selected to represent India at the international event.

"It is a dream come true for us. Even though my parents don't know anything about London, they are happy that I would travel by plane," says Ganesh Chandra, 13, Murmu's teammate, who just can't stop smiling as he talks about his impending trip.
   
Achyuta Samanta, Chancellor of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) says, "Twenty children had participated and won the inter-school tournament held at Kolkata last month and 12 out of them were finally selected to play in London."

For the team, which trains for three hours daily, rugby, the sport which is yet to catch up in the country is nothing less than the cricket or any other popular sports.
   
"India might have lost the cricket world cup but we will win the tournament and make everybody proud," says a beaming Ganesh Chandra, 14.

The children who live in the tribal residential school away from their parents and other family members have received some of the best training possible, Samanta says.

"We initially started playing Tag rugby as it was fun and the local rugby association representative saw as playing the game and Upendra Mohanty, state level coach trained us. After that, we even received coaching from English coach, Martin Hansport," says Adi Dhangadamgi, 14 who still has a fresh wound on the forehead after a fall during the training.
   
While, rugby as a game involves lot of physical blocks and hits to stop the opponents from scoring, the children just play with no protective gear other than knee caps. "This has made us stronger and hence would now be able to bear more than others with the protective gear on," says Ganesh Chandra.

"The fact that our children have excelled in a pre-dominantly western sport is a reflection of the belief that with proper training and education, even tribals can be easily made a part of the mainstream society," says Samanta.