Malkangiri: Ganesh Dhangda Manjhi, a Bonda tribe youth from Odisha’s Malkangiri district, will lead the Indian U20 Rugby Team in the Under-20 Asia Rugby Championship to be held in Kathmandu, Nepal, from August 19-20. Apart from Ganesh, four other youths from Odisha have been selected in the 20-member team.
The team flew to Nepal on August 15 to participate in the championship and aims to find a place on the podium defeating defending champion UAE and strong contenders Uzbekistan and Malaysia.
Ganesh hails from M Banaguda village under Mudliapada panchayat of Khairput block in Malkangiri district and is the youngest of seven siblings. Ganesh’s father Sama Dhangda was a guard at Majhi Mudulipada police station in the district and, ironically, is oblivious to his son’s achievement. Instead of appreciating his son’s achievement, Sama feels that Ganesh should have taken up a ‘responsible’ job and helped him to run the family.
Ganesh completed his primary education at Banguda School in Bandaghati and did his Plus III from a private educational institution in Bhubaneswar. He is a trained rugby player and has represented the national team on earlier occasions.
Since his childhood, Ganesh nourished a desire to do something that would make his parents and villagers proud. A well-built youth, he caught the eye of his rugby coach in college and started undergoing rigorous training to be where he is today. He has not visited his home for a long time as practice in the India camp kept him busy. Ganesh is confident that they will be able to improve on their previous performances in international matches and bring home laurels.
“I am extremely honoured and grateful to be given the responsibility of being the captain for the Indian U20 men’s team, which will represent the country at the Asia Rugby U20 Championship. I am looking forward to the event. Our team has trained exceptionally well, and we are ready to take on the challenge to compete in Nepal. This is an opportunity for us to continue to improve our game at the international stage and keep moving up in the rankings,” said Ganesh Majhi talking to the media before he departed for Nepal.
Meanwhile, Ganesh’s school headmaster Subrata Kirsani said, “Ganesh, being a youth of the Bonda tribe has become the captain of the national U20 rugby team. This is a matter of pride and glory for his village, district, state, and country.”
