Selection row hits India’s Asian Games gymnastics team | More Sports News
New Delhi: India’s gymnastics squad for the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya from September 19 to October 4 is mired in a controversy over the selection of the women’s artistic team after the sports authorities and the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) differed on the appropriate names. During a meeting involving the country’s sports authorities, officials argued that Pranati Nayak and Protistha Samanta qualified based on their performances at last year’s Asian Championships in South Korea, as the most recent continental meet – held in China from June 25-28 – fell outside the selection window that ended on June 20. However, documents accessed by TOI show that the Asian Gymnastics Union (AGU) has confirmed the nominative name entries, with Pranati qualifying in the vault and Nishka Agarwal getting a direct all-around quota. The AGU states that these quotas belong to the athletes and cannot be changed unless the gymnast withdraws due to injury or personal reasons. Consequently, Nishka’s entry cannot be replaced, while Protistha can only compete if Pranati withdraws from the vault event. In men’s, the entries of Yogeshwar Singh and Tapan Mohanti were approved by AGU in all places.A GFI official said the federation has already forwarded the names of Pranati, Nishka, Yogeshwar and Tapan to the IOA and SAI, but is awaiting official approval before commenting further. “We would like to inform you that the GFI has already communicated their recommended team composition for the Asian Games to the IOA and SAI for their consideration. However, we are yet to receive any official confirmation or permission from the relevant authorities,” said the GFI.
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