The uncertainty over India’s participation in next month’s Artistic Gymnastic World Championship has ended after the Sports Authority of India said that they will hold the trials for the event in Delhi later this month.
Indian gymnasts were caught in the impasse between the Sports Ministry and the Gymnastics Federation of India, which was de-recognised in 2012 and is suspended as per the national sports code due to their in-fighting. As a result, the ministry had refused to clear the team for the World Championships to be held in Doha from October 25 to November 3. Without the Ministry’s clearance, India’s top gymnasts would have had to do without funding or national training camps for the marquee event.
However, SAI Project Manager Rajinder Pathania confirmed to Scroll.in that SAI will hold trials on September 29-30 in Delhi.
The trials are to determine who makes the cut but the last date of sending entries ‘by names’ to the organiser is September 25.
Sources said the entries will be sent by the cut-off date but they have made provisions for the names of the entries to be modified, in case of changes.
The 2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships do not offer any Olympic qualification berths, but it is an important tournament for the Indian gymnasts as they will look for exposure before they begin their quest for Tokyo 2020 spots. India has already missed out on the recently concluded Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, due to this tussle.
Rakesh Patra, who had finished fourth in the ring event at the FIG World Challenge Cup in Turkey in August, had said if India failed to participate in Doha, the contingent’s Olympics preparation will take a hit.
“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,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
He also said that if the federation could not fund the trip, he would have to bear the cost or seek help from organisations such as GoSports to go to Doha.
Dipa Karmakar, who is currently training with coach Bishweshwar Nandi in her hometown Agartala, will be leaving for Delhi. “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,” her coach had told PTI.
With inputs from PTI