As the Asian Games enters its seventh day of competitions on Saturday, three rhythmic gymnasts will still be on selection mode, hoping to get a last-minute clearance from the Sports Authority of India to fly to Hangzhou. Rhythmic gymnastics is scheduled on October 6-7.
Life Adlakha, Nishka Kale and Sanyukta Kale were selected by the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) after trials but were not cleared for participation as they did not fulfil the “selection criteria set by the union sports ministry. Two gymnasts petitioned the High Court of Punjab and Haryana against the decision and have got a favourable verdict.
The court on September 26 directed SAI to conduct another selection trial and evaluate their performance by a “board of experts” between Sept 29-30. Following the court order, SAI on Friday issued a circular to hold selection trials for the three gymnasts on Saturday at Delhi’s IG Stadium.
“The result/assessment if found satisfactory shall be forwarded to the Sports Ministry before Oct 3 to take a decision affirmatively before Oct 4,” justice Vinod S Bhardwaj said in his order.
The gymnasts told the court they are willing to bear their expenses to participate in the Games.
The athletes did not meet the sports ministry’s eligibility criterion of eighth position/rank during the last one year in a competition. The GFI had recommended that they be sent to provide them international exposure.
The petitioners contended that non-participation in the Asian Games would mean that team ranking of India will not improve, which would again be cited to not send athletes the next time too. The gymnasts said they have not been able to participate in international events due to lack of opportunities.
“Despite lack of basic coaching facilities and coaching arenas, the petitioners have put in hard labour and undergone rigorous training to be able to participate,” said the court order.
“The scoring pattern in gymnastics is open ended and thus there cannot be no uniform criteria for assessing the performance of the sportsperson.
“SAI has wrongly limited the analysis to evaluating the players on the basis of past performance alone, even though it is one of the considerations. The selection trials held by GFI under the supervision of experts and the results thereof are also required to be taken into consideration,” the judge noted.
Mayank Vaibhav Chapheker in modern pentathlon, an Olympic discipline, was given the go ahead after he petitioned the court. India had one entry in artistic gymnastics, Pranati Nayak.
