SAI's selection criteria for Artistic World Championship leaves Indian gymnasts stumped

09/29/2018

Indian gymnasts participating in the trials for the Artistic World Championship have been left baffled by SAI’s directive to perform all-rounder routine instead of their individual events for selection. The gymnasts were surprised by the routine which includes four events for women and six for men.

Indian gymnasts are quite disturbed by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) directive which says that they will have to perform the all-rounder routine instead of their individual events for selection. There was also an uncertainty over the participation of Indian Gymnasts at the Doha event, which ended last week when SAI decided to hold trials on September 29 and 30.

A gymnast on anonymity told PTI,” We only came to know after coming here that the selection will be on all-around basis. Generally, we get a letter a month in advance but this time, we got it a week before the trials and then it didn’t mention on what basis they will make the selection.”

“Now there is no time to prepare. I had prepared for three events. For team event, there has to be three men and three women, but they will select only four athletes, so why they are selecting on all-around basis when there is no team, I don’t understand. Wouldn’t it have been better if we could have tried to come within top 30 in specific individual events? It would have been better as the upcoming world cups, which would be qualifying events, will be on the basis of individual events.”

Riyaz Ahmed Bhati, who is on the SAI’s selection panel after replacing Kaushik Bediwala, was also baffled to learn the selection process which he received in a mail on Friday.

Bhati, who is also the vice-president of Gymnastic Federation of India (GFI), said, “SAI has included my name in the selection committee on such a short notice and that too without my consent. This is wrong. SAI is helping us now but things happened too late. It has left the gymnasts with very less time to prepare. It could have been better managed.”

There are speculations about Dipa Karmakar’s participation because of the knee injury that she had during the Asian Games while Ashish Kumar and Aruna Budda Reddy have already decided to skip the world championship.

A Lot of the gymnasts are focused on the apparatus event whereas the all-rounder selection has put them in the spot. Many of them are made to stay in the capital on their own as no accommodation has been provided by the authorities.

As, the GFI is derecognised and stands suspended as per the national sports code, the Indian gymnasts were left in the lurch after Sports Ministry had refused to clear the team for the World Championship.

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