CWG gymnast Ashish Kumar : I competed at the Melbourne CWG without the FIG licence

03/15/2018

Gymnast Ashish Kumar has revealed that he did not possess the mandatory ‘FIG licence’ when he competed at the 2006 CWG that was held in Melbourne. The GFI and IOA recently denied Mohammad Bobby and Gaurav Kumar a spot in the contingent because they did not have the ‘FIG licence.’

Controversy has shrouded preparation for Indian gymnasts ahead of the upcoming 2018 Commonwealth Games to be held in Gold Coast, Australia next month. The recent announcement of the gymnast’s contingent to compete at the CWG drew criticism from individuals in India who questioned the authorities' decision to hold back the likes of Mohammad Bobby and Gaurav Kumar as the authorities claimed that they did not have the ‘FIG licence’.

Amidst all this speculation, India’s first gymnast to bag a medal, when he won the Bronze medal in the 2010 CWG in Delhi, Ashish Kumar has revealed that he did not have an ‘FIG licence’ when he participated in his first international tournament back in the 2006 CWG in Melbourne.

“I got it in a few days. Don’t exactly know the technicalities but it all depends on the federation. If they really want, they can always get it done (from the FIG) early. I competed at the Melbourne CWG without the license. It was my first CWG and I was very young at that time. It was only after the 2009 Worlds that I got my licence,” informed Ashish in an interview to TOI.

Ashish’s revelation seems to have proved the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) and Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) as the Allahabad-born gymnast revealed that if the federation (GFI) was willing they could arrange for the licence to be delivered within a month’s time. BJP’s Member of Parliament from Agra, Ram Shankar Katheria, and the Department of scheduled caste and scheduled tribes welfare under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had recently penned a letter to the Sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore regarding the issue of Bobby and Kumar.

Bobby and Kumar come from poor families in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Bobby’s father, who died last year, was a labourer, while Gaurav’s father works in a shoe manufacturing unit in Agra.

Katheria, was the chairman of the national commission for scheduled castes, had urged Rathore to intervene the concerned bodies and ensure that the names of the two gymnasts be included in the contingent to travel to Gold Coast.

“How could a gymnast finishing sixth (total 73.45 points) be named for the CWG? I (with 75.85 points) and Gaurav (75.30 points) were well ahead of Yogeshwar on points. Patra, who only competed in three out of the six artistic rounds totalling just 40.60 points, was also included. This is cheating.

“If the GFI and IOA are saying we don’t have the licence and it can’t be made, then they should have named Arik in the squad. He finished fifth (73.75 points) and has the valid licence (till May 2019),” said a disheartened Bobby.

CWG gymnast Ashish Kumar : I competed at the Melbourne CWG without the FIG licence

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