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Ever since Ashish Kumar clinched both a silver and a bronze medal at the Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010, the sport of gymnastics in India turned a new leaf. It received a further shot in the arm when rookie gymnast Dipa Karmakar shocked one and all with her flawless rendition of the deadly 'Produnova' vault and became the first Indian to qualify for the Olympic finals of any gymnastics event. She fell tragically short of a historic podium finish by just 0.2 points.
Though Dipa won't be able to change the color of her medal from Glasgow 2014 (from where her golden journey actually started), courtesy her injury, the other Indian gymnasts are raring to go in the upcoming gymnastics event at the Commonwealth Games, which shall commence from the 5th of April at the Coomera Sports & Leisure Centre.
Tournament Format
According to the format laid out by the CWG 2018 organizing committee on the official website, the participating gymnasts, whether artistic or rhythmic, shall be divided into groups of three each, i.e. team events, individual all-around events and the individual exercise events.
First, the concerned teams shall participate in the team all-around event, following which the same participants shall compete in the individual all-around events, and then further compete individually in the various artistic disciplines, from vault to rings and parallel bar.
While the artistic events, where India has a stronger chance at a podium finish, will take place from 5th to 9th April, the rhythmic events, where India has a sole representative in the form of Meghana Reddy, will take place from 11 to 13 events. Following is the schedule for the gymnastics events, that would take place at Gold Coast CWG 2018:
5 April: Medal Finals for Men's Team All-Around and Individual All-Around Qualification [Artistic Gymnastics]
6 April: Medal Finals for Women's Team All-Around and Individual All-Around Qualification [Artistic Gymnastics]
7 April: Medal Finals for Men's Individual All-Around and Women's Individual All-Around [Artistic Gymnastics]
8 April: Medal Finals for Women's Vault, Women's Uneven Bars, Men's Floor Exercise, Men's Pommel Horse and Men's Rings [Artistic Gymnastics]
9 April: Medal Finals for Women's Balance Beam, Women's Floor Exercise, Men's Vault, Men's Parallel Bars and Men's Horizontal Bars [Artistic Gymnastics]
10 April: Day of Rest
11 April:- Medal Finals for Women's Team All-Around and Women's Individual All-Around Qualification [Rhythmic Gymnastics]
12 April: Medal Finals for Women's Individual All-Around [Rhythmic Gymnastics]
13 April: Medal Finals for Women's Hoop, Women's Ball, Women's Clubs, Women's Ribbon [Rhythmic Gymnastics]
Male gymnasts: Can Ashish Kumar make a comeback?
India is sending a total of three male gymnasts, which includes Ashish Kumar, emerging stalwart Rakesh Patra, and rookie Yogeshwar Singh. This CWG is important for Ashish, who has been out of action for the past few years, and will be looking to gain the same momentum which had made him an overnight sensation.
Though he will be participating in all the artistic events, his main focus will be on the vault and the floor exercise events, where he had clinched a podium finish in the Delhi CWG 2010 edition.
Apart from Ashish, the other medal hope from India is Rakesh Patra, who is the discovery of the recently inaugurated Indian Gymnastics League, a professional gymnastics league modelled on the successful Indian Premier League.
Though he shone throughout the event, Rakesh, who is a parallel bars and rings specialist, had to fight it out real hard in order to join the Indian contingent for the Commonwealth Games 2018.
He was rejected initially on the grounds that he didn't have the adequate score in the individual all-around event, but eventually, Rakesh won the battle after submitting a writ petition in the Delhi High Court. We only hope that the stress related to the incident doesn't take a toll on the promising gymnast.
Female gymnasts: Time for Pranati and Aruna to make their mark
On the other hand, like badminton, the Indian women's team for artistic and rhythmic gymnastics is much better placed and has better hopes of a podium finish. The team includes Pranati Nayak, Gymnastics World Cup bronze medalist Aruna Reddy and Pranati Das.
Pranati Nayak, who considers Dipa Karmakar her role model, is aiming to make her own mark and follow the footsteps of her idol by landing on the podium at the Gold Coast CWG 2018.
The centre of attraction in this contingent is Aruna Reddy, who is competing in both the team and the individual events. If she manages to perform up to the same level she displayed at the Gymnastics World Cup, or even better her own mark, she can very well stake her claim for a historic gold medal in this event. This would further strengthen her image before the upcoming Jakarta Asian Games.
India is also sending a participant to the rhythmic gymnastics event, where Meghana Reddy would be participating in the women's individual all-around events. Meghana, who is making her debut with this CWG, will hope to make a mark for herself in the same way Ashish Kumar and Dipa Karmakar have done before.
Following is the team for the gymnastics event at the Commonwealth Games 2018:-
Indian men's gymnastics team:-
Ashish Kumar, Rakesh Patra, Yogeshwar Singh [Artistic Gymnastics - Men's Team and Individual Events]
Indian women's gymnastics team:-
Aruna Reddy, Pranati Das, Pranati Nayak [Artistic Gymnastics - Women's Team and Individual Events]
Meghana Reddy [Rhythmic Gymnastics - Women's Team and Individual Events]
