Sri Lankan rugby coach of Bihar team feels the girls can do wonders with proper guidance

Bihar Women’s rugby team has stunned everyone by bagging a silver medal in the ongoing 37th edition of the National Games. They produced a performance for the ages in the competition before losing to Odisha in the final.

Bihar Women’s rugby team’s coach Dulanjana Vijayasinghe feels that their performance in the National Games is just the beginning and that bigger things are soon to follow.

Bihar has never had a presence in the game of Rugby but the sport has made massive strides in the state as the association has made some smart investments, including the coaches and the training staff.

They earlier hired two South African coaches Keano and Jondre Naude before Vijayasinghe’s appointment 20 days ahead of the National Games 2023 to put together a strong side.

Their actions have reaped immediate results as Bihar’s men’s rugby team qualified for the National Games for the first time in their history and they finished 6th in the competition. Meanwhile, the women’s reached the final but lost to Odisha 7-12.

The success of the Bihar women’s rugby team is special because they only had Sweta Sai with the national team experience.

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Strength and diet is an issue as most of the players come from underprivileged background: Vijayasinghe

Sri Lankan rugby coach of Bihar team - Dulanjana Vijayasinghe

While talking about the potential of Bihar’s rugby, Vijayasinghe also underlined the challenges. He talked about how most players in the team come from an underprivileged background and hence, it is tough for them to maintain the required diet. The Sri Lankan coach said,

“Most of the boys and girls included in the Bihar team come from very poor families. The biggest problem is regarding their physique. They are short and their diet is not good. Bihar government was giving protein shakes to the children during the camp. There is a good diet here, but after this, I don’t know how they will continue with this same diet at home.”

Talking further about the language barrier, Vijayasinghe cleared that the game has its own language and all players understand it. He also added that there are players in the team who speak English and communicate with the players who don’t understand the language.

Vijayasinghe brings a lot of experience to Bihar’s rugby as he has played 14 club seasons in Sri Lanka and the Asian series.