Somersaulting over politics

New Delhi: With no affiliated federation, national coach, tournaments or foreign exposure, Indian gymnasts have still sprung surprises by winning medals on the world stage.

After Dipa Karmakar’s fourth-placed finish at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the country again erupted in joy when Budda Aruna Reddy became the first Indian gymnast to claimed an individual medal at the World Cup in Melbourne, securing bronze in the women’s vault event recently.

After the 2010 Commonwealth Games, where Ashish Kumar bagged India’s first medal in gymnastics, it was assumed that the sport would touch new horizons but internal politics in the federation has hindered its progress beyond imagination. Still athletes like Karmakar and Reddy have kept the country’s flag flying high.

With two warring factions — led by Jaspal Singh Kandhari and Sudhakar Shetty respectively — vying for the power to govern the federation, it has been the gymnasts and upcoming players who are the worst sufferers. The Delhi High Court had banned both factions and the case is still sub-judice.

Since 2012, there have been two separate national championships every year (except in 2014); one each organised by the two warring factions. Neither the players nor coaches or state associations know which one is legitimate. Gymnasts have participated where their coaches, and the associations they are affiliated to, asked them to.

The sports ministry refuses to acknowledge either group, and says it will not intervene in what it viewed as an internal feud of the organisation (most players and coaches, however, say that it was Sports Authority of India that organised camps and arranged for players to attend a few international tournaments as the two factions fought each other).

The players have kept participating; winning medals at various tournaments but never received certificates acknowledging their performance. As far as the sports ministry and SAI were concerned, there hadn’t been a single gymnastics national championship since 2011.

Budda Aruna Reddy

“Everyone expect us to get medals, but the kind of treatment we are getting... no federation, no tournaments, no foreign exposure... It is very difficult to get medals. It’s my hard work and dedication that fetched me the medal.

“If we will get a medal, everyone will be there to take the credit, but if we fail, everyone will blame the players. You cannot expect us to win medals by taking part in just one tournament in the whole year. It’s very wrong. If we get proper treatment, we will get four to five medals, that I promise you,” Ashish told this paper after clinching five medals at the International Commonwealth Championships in Perth, Scotland, in 2014.

After four years of complete anarchy, with both factions running their personal fiefs, elections were finally held again in 2015. Since the election was held under the aegis of the Indian Olympic Association, the court ruling will effectively hand over control of the Indian gymnastics to the Shetty faction, the new elected body.

The case is still on in the Delhi High Court and the next election is scheduled for 2019.

Given this messy background, it has been the dedication of coaches like Bisweswar Nadi and Brij Mohan, to name a few, that has kept the sport alive in the country. “I wanted to discontinue gymnastics after my father passed away but my sister, brother-in-law and mother kept me going. Two years later, I got into the India camp and things looked up. Support from the SAI and coach Bisweswar Nandi sir was always there. Now, I am in the central government’s TOPS Scheme (that aids potential medallists at Olympics). TOPS helped me train abroad and enhance my routines,” Reddy said.

Ashish Kumar

Indian gymnastics over the years
1951: A national federation for gymnastics is formed. A year later, it gets affiliated to the Indian Olympic Association and the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
1952: Two gymnasts, Khushi Ram and Veer Singh, both from Punjab, sent to the Helsinki Olympics.
1956: Three gymnasts — Pritam Singh, Sham Lal and Anant Ram — sent to the Melbourne Olympics
1964: A six-member gymnastics team, led by Anant Ram, represents India at the Tokyo Olympics. In all three Olympics, the Indian gymnasts finish at the bottom of the pool. For the next 52 years, there would be no Indian gymnast at the Olympics.
2006: Uttar Pradesh gymnast Ashish Kumar qualifies for the Asian Games, and wins a bronze at the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships
2010: Ashish Kumar wins India’s first medals, a bronze and a silver, in gymnastics at the Commonwealth Games, held in New Delhi. He makes an even bigger breakthrough with a bronze at the Guangzhou Asian Games.
2016: Dipa Karmakar becomes the first Indian gymnast to qualify for the Olympics (qualifications were introduced in 1972). She becomes the first Indian to make it to the final of a gymnastics event at the Olympics, where she finishes fourth.
2018: Aruna Budda Reddy creates history by becoming the first Indian to clinch a medal at the gymnastics World Cup when she took bronze in the women's vault event in Melbourne