Nepal Rugby Association on Monday announced the 13-member women’s squad that will be representing the country in the Asia Rugby Emirates U20s Sevens tournament. The event is taking place in Bihar, India, from August 9 to 10.

According to Asia Rugby, the governing body of the sport in the continent, a total of 16 teams—eight men’s and eight women’s teams—will compete over two action-packed days in a round-robin format in the city of Rajgir.

The top two teams in each pool advance to the Cup semi-finals, Asia Rugby states. “The remaining teams will compete for the Plate, ensuring competitive rugby throughout the tournament.”

The 13 Nepali players selected for the tournament include Samjhauta Tumbapo, Lucky Balampaki Magar, Sanamika Magar, Rekha Khadka, Sushila Sunuwar, Nisha Ghalan, Roshna Pokharel, Puja Dangol, Kabita Badi, Aarushi Bhattarai, Salina Majhi, Samikshya Gautam and Ramira Shahi.

The players are currently undergoing training in a closed camp at the Sarlahi-based Radha Krishna Sports Ground, the Nepal Rugby Association (NRA) informed.

Sabitri Purja is the coach of the U20 team.

Hosts India, alongside China, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan, will have their men’s and women’s teams participating in the event. However, Nepal will only send the women’s team, while Malaysia will only have the men’s team, in the tournament.

Nepal had hosted the same tournament in 2023 and had fielded both men’s and women’s teams. The hosts, however, did not win a single match.

The men’s team had then lost to India, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Uzbekistan in a single round-robin format. The women’s team was defeated by Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand in the two fixtures of the double round-robin format.