SAI to conduct trials for Artistic Gymnastic World Championship

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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The trials for the upcoming Artistic Gymnastic World Championship to be conducted by the Sports Authority of India(SAI) will be held in Delhi on September 29 and 30. The Indian gymnasts earlier missed out on the recently concluded Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships held in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Everything has not been hunky-dory between the Sports Ministry and the Gymnastics Federation of India(GFI). Due to the uncertain situation prevailing, players and coaches were unsure of getting another opportunity to improve their respective performances before the all important Tokyo Olympics 2020 which happens to be less than 20 months away.

The Sports Ministry de-recognised GFI in 2012 stating internal problems. Owing to non-resolution of internal governance and administration issues, GFI continues to be unrecognised by the government. This severely hinders the growth of Gymnastics in our country which has taken some giant strides since Dipa Karmakar’s number four finish at the Rio Olympics.

“We will be travelling to New Delhi by September 22. We are waiting for a decision. It is a very important event ahead of Olympics. Let’s see what the sports ministry decides. I have faith in the system so hopefully everything will fall into place,” Bishweswar Nandi told PTI.

The World Championship is an important stage for all the athletes who are seriously considering getting a medal in Tokyo Olympics, even though a good show in the championship does not give athletes a direct ticket to the Olympics. Hence, the announcement of trials for the gymnasts comes as a relief for them.

Rakesh Patra who missed on an Olympic berth narrowly in Rio Olympics and is adamant on getting on the podium in the Tokyo Olympics said, “If we are not able to participate in the Doha World Championships we would never know where we stand in the global ranking chart. We need to test ourselves against the best to understand where we need to improve ahead of the Olympics.”

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