India is a country that has a long history of identification with sports. Sports means fitness, sincerity, focus and on a national level “patriotism”. But in hindsight, if we decrypt the meaning of sports, it also means representation. Sports also stands for identity.
Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) sits at the sports capital of India i.e. Odisha. The institute supports 27,000 students from grades one through graduate training along with vocational training, skill development, academia, sports and culture. The priority given to sports in KISS is unmatchable and the result is its epic testimonial.
Over five thousand athletes have played in the national and international tournaments ranging over 100 different sports giving the mileage that sports desperately needs in this country. This includes the participation in Commonwealth and Asian games but when it comes to rugby then KISS is the ‘aka’ of rugby. KISS has been an undisputed rugby hub and poor tribal children have travelled across the world, won tournaments for the country and our state and became the voice of Odisha all the while. KISS’s upliftment through Rugby and several other sports like Judo, archery, hockey, volleyball, athletics and the like, is giving tribal communities hope, representation and letting them out of poverty. In a country where women are subjected to domestic work, my vision for a change has been established by giving boys and girls equal opportunity in both academia and sports, for free. Needless to say, 60% of the students in the institution are girls.
Rugby is a sport that requires a lot of strength both mental and physical. It is a game for the smart and the furious. When it comes to the students of KISS they are genetically gifted with the mental and physical endurance, which is required to play and win the sport. In 2005, we brought in state-level coaches to train our students and then promoted to national level coaches for further improvement. When the time was correct international coaches were brought in for months of rigorous training, finally, players aged 12 to 13 from KISS represented the Indian team to play the international rugby world cup at London. I was extremely proud of the students who defeated 10 countries to win the rugby world cup and brought flourishing results for Odisha at the world map of sports. Bhagyalaxmi Barik was the first one to represent us in the Indian rugby team and cut to 15 years, from Pramod Khanna to Rahul Bose, everyone has acknowledged our contribution to this game.
Hon'ble CM Shri @Naveen_Odisha wished the best to the U18 Girls Rugby Team that will be touring Uzbekistan next month and promised full support to @RugbyIndia.
"?????? ???? ?? ??? ???? ?? ?????? ?????", said Hon'ble CM. pic.twitter.com/fjMC6Ftuas
— Odisha Sports (@sports_odisha) August 28, 2021
“Wherever sports can improve societies, it is fantastic. Even after representing India for so many years, we can see that Rugby is played mostly by Adivasis. We are not only talking about grassroots. Both our men and women’s national teams have 60% or more of their representations from the Adivasi communities. If you don’t see the social transformation here, then what do you see?” says acclaimed actor and veteran Rugby player Rahul Bose. In fact, Rahul Bose has personally visited KISS, played with the rugby teams and praised my efforts for change.
Rugby has been the one game that has changed the diaspora of the indigenous community in sports. After years of representing indigenous people, Rugby now represents empowerment. A flow of empowerment that ignited at KISS. The change has been so evident that Naveen Patnaik the CM of Odisha has taken to twitter and other social media apps to praise the culture of Rugby that KISS has created and established. The force has been such that KISS is now officially co-sponsoring Rugby India and setting up camps for more children to play and represent. The Odisha Government too will be collaborating with us in this mission. The aim now is to get the Indian Rugby Team to the 2028 Olympics. This will be a historic moment for the state and the country. And yes, we are aiming to make history happen.
KISS has contributed immensely for Rugby Sports creating National International level Athletes/Players & now everyone knows KISS & Rugby are Synonymous.
KISS has created best platform for Rugby Players by providing training through World-class coaches.
A Picture was released for Success of Rugby by KISS.
Jungle Cry’ depicts inspiring tale of KISS rugby team.
The first poster and teaser of ‘Jungle Cry’, an inspired true story of the Rugby Team of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), were launched at Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2019.
We heartily thank our Honourable Founder Sir Dr Achyuta Samanta Sir for promoting All Sports & Games creating World-class Infrastructures & specially promoting Rugby.
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Rugby in India gets the name and fame due to the efforts made at Kalinga institute of Social Sciences (KISS) from the time of its inception ..All credits to the founder sir Dr.Achyuta Samanta for his constant efforts to promote excellence in every field be it Sports or Academia..All the best wishes for 2028 Olympics…
Rugby in India gets its name and fame with Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences ..(kISS)..Dr.Achyuta Samantha sir grand salutes for creating platform for such grand events like 2028 Olympics..all good wishes…
At the current state of affairs, there are a number of runways in front of our eyes. But, remarkable flights land in specific runways only. Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, popularly known as KISS, built by Dr Achyutaya Samanta Sir is of such kind.
Sir, the efforts and contribution of KISS towards the sport of Rugby is indeed commendable. Not only does it give a platform to thousands of boys and girls to prove their talent, but also brings laurels for the country at the international level.
May the hardwork, determination of our talented players and support of Odisha government and KISS, create history for the Indian Rugby Team in the 2028 Olympics.
Best wishes
Excellent piece
We are proud of you Sir??
Wonderful #KISSuniversity
Really Sir, your a visionary, In 2007 when you taken a risk of 12 nos tribal students under the age of 14 to visit UK everybody astonished and again everybody astonished when the boys got the champion ?trophy defeating South America. It’s only because of you. We salute ??you Sir.
People used to say that Rugby is not an Indian Sports when you adopt Rugby in KISS. But you proved there was any dearth of talent in India when INDIA U- 14 boys team all players from KISS won the World Cup at Manchester London, beating South Africa. You proved many times that if we have a reason to do something, and having enough passion we generally succeed. Thank You Sir for your support to promote Rugby in India and encouragement to all Sports and Sports persons to excel.