ORGANISED BY: Indian Rugby Football Union (IRFU)
DESCRIPTION:
* Rugby Premier League (RPL) is a franchise-based professional rugby sevens league of India.
* Six teams, including one from Odisha, will take part in the inaugural edition of RPL, which will feature a total of 34 matches.
* All 34 matches will be played at Andheri Sports Complex, Mumbai.
* The teams are: Delhi Redz, Hyderabad Heroes, Kalinga Black Tigers (Odisha), Chennai Bulls, Mumbai Dreamers and Bengaluru Bravehearts.
* Each team will consist of 13 players (5 international marquee players, 3 international bridge players and 5 Indian players).
* Investment firm Hunch Ventures is the owner of the Bhubaneswar-based Kalinga Black Tigers team, which will be led by Harry McNulty.
* Karanpal Singh is the founder of Hunch Ventures and co-owner of Kalinga Black Tigers.
* Kaling Black Tigers have only one Odisha player (Asis Sabar) in their team.
* Former Odisha player Rajeev Nath has been appointed as the assistant coach of the Kalinga Black Tigers.
* A total of four players from Odisha will feature in the RPL 2025.
* Other three are: Sambit Pradhan (Hyderabad Heroes), Shanawaz Ahmed (Chennai Bulls) and Ganesh Dhangada Majhi (Mumbai Dreamers).
* Mohit Khatri (Haryana) became the most expensive Indian player, bought by Bengaluru Bravehearts for Rs 4.75 lakh.
* Among the four Odisha players, Asis Sabar was bought for Rs 1.50 lakh by Kalinga Black Tigers and Shanawaz Ahmed was sold to Chennai Bulls for Rs 0.80 lakh, while Sambit Pradhan and Ganesh Dhangada Majhi were acquired by Hyderabad Heroes and Mumbai Dreamers for Rs 0.50 lakh each.
* The league will be broadcast live on Star Sports and JioHotstar.
KALINGA BLACK TIGERS TEAM: Forwards: Kyle Tremblay (Canada), Harry McNulty (Ireland), Ajay Deswal (India), Pardeep Singh (India), Deepraj Rajabhosale (India). Hybrid: James Thiel (Canada). Back: Maurice Longbottom (Australia), Lucas Lacamp (United States), Ethan Turner (Canada), Rosko Specman (South Africa), Perry Baker (United States), Asis Sabar (Odisha, India), Arjun Mahato (India). Coach: Mike Friday. Assistant Coach: Rajeev Nath.
MATCHES OF KALINGA BLACK TIGERS:
June 15: Hyderabad Heroes vs Kalinga Black Tigers
June 16: Bengaluru Bravehearts vs Kalinga Black Tigers
June 18: Chennai Bulls vs Kalinga Black Tigers
June 19: Hyderabad Heroes beat Kalinga Black Tigers
June 20: Delhi Redz vs Kalinga Black Tigers
June 21: Delhi Redz vs Kalinga Black Tigers.
June 22: Mumbai Dreamers vs Kalinga Black Tigers.
June 24: Mumbai Dreamers vs Kalinga Black Tigers.
June 26: Chennai Bulls vs Kalinga Black Tigers.
June 28: Semifinals
June 29: Bronze medal & Final matches.