A 20-year-old athlete from a remote village in Uttarkashi, who entered rugby by chance three years ago after mistaking a trial for a race event, emerged as India’s standout performer at the Central and South Asia (CASA) Rugby 7s Championship in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, reports TOI.
Mahak Chauhan, a resident of Bhadrasu village in Mori block, was named the women’s player of the tournament in her first senior international appearance after scoring nine tries for India during the competition held from May 16 to 17.
India’s women’s team finished fourth in the six-nation tournament, while the men’s team secured a silver medal at the inaugural CASA Rugby 7s, sanctioned by Asia Rugby and World Rugby. The women’s event featured teams from Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, India, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
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Mahak emerges as India’s top scorer
Ayush Saini, treasurer of Uttarakhand Rugby Association and coach of the Uttarakhand state women’s rugby team, said Mahak finished as India’s highest scorer in the tournament, as reported by TOI.
“She secured nine try scores during the tournament. She impressed everyone with her pace, fitness and attack. Though the Indian team failed to get a podium finish, her individual performance made the country proud,” Saini told TOI on Tuesday.
In rugby, a try is scored when a player grounds the ball in the opponent’s goal area and is considered the primary method of scoring.
Mahak’s performance provided Indian women’s rugby with a strong individual success story at the beginning of the international season. Rugby India had announced the senior men’s and women’s squads after a national coaching camp at SAI Netaji Subhas Eastern Centre in Kolkata from May 1 to 14, stating that the CASA 7s tournament would offer players valuable international exposure.
From track-and-field to rugby
Before competing in the CASA Rugby 7s, Mahak was part of the India U-20 team that won bronze at an international rugby championship in Malaysia.
However, rugby was not originally part of her plans. Mahak moved from Uttarkashi to Dehradun after class 8 to continue her studies and pursue better training opportunities in track-and-field events.
Her father, Arvendra Chauhan, a government school teacher in Uttarkashi, said she had shown sporting talent from an early age.
“She used to participate in track-and-field events and told us to get her admitted to a school in Dehradun after class 8 so that she could train better. Neither she nor we knew about rugby. One day in 2023, she went for a trial with one of her friends in Roorkee. She was under the impression that it was a race. She performed well without knowing that the state rugby association was organising the trials,” he told TOI.
According to her father, the organisers, including the state women’s rugby coach, noticed her speed and encouraged her to take up the sport.
“Till then, she was oblivious to the physical game. She called us and said she had been selected for the state rugby team, in which players hold an oval-shaped ball and run on the field. We also found the game odd as it was totally new for us. But she started doing well and was soon appointed captain of the Uttarakhand U-18 girls’ rugby team,” he said.
CASA Rugby Alliance aims to expand sport in region
The CASA Rugby Alliance was launched to create competitive pathways for rugby nations in Central and South Asia. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan are part of the regional initiative aimed at promoting the sport.
Mahak’s nine-try performance for India highlighted how athletes from remote regions can quickly rise to the national stage when identified early and provided opportunities at the international level.
