India gymnastics official Deepak Kabra to attend pre-Olympics meeting online after pandemic disrupts Tokyo travel plans

India’s Deepak Kabra, who will officiate men’s artistic gymnastics competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games, has had his travel plans disrupted due to the pandemic.

In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, he said:

“Initially, my flight was on July 18 from Mumbai to Tokyo. However, it has been canceled due to a pandemic. As per fresh travel guidelines, I will take July 22 flight to Japan.”

Deepak is the first Indian official to have been nominated by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) to judge the men’s gymnastics competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

“I’m among the execution panel of judging in the Tokyo Olympic Games. The panel to judge the difficulty of the competitors is different. Scores of execution and difficulty panels are combined for the final result,” added Deepak.

With strict COVID-19 protocols in place for the Tokyo Olympic Games starting July 23, Deepak will attend the pre-event judges meeting online.

“It’s mandatory for all officials to attend the pre-event judges meeting. Since my travel plan has changed due to the pandemic, I will attend the first pre-event meeting on July 20 from Mumbai,” said Deepak.

Deepak has been judging international events since 2009. He has judging licenses for both men and women’s gymnastics competitions. Since 2009 he has been an official for more than 15 international competitions, including the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.

The gymnastics competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games starts July 24.

Pranati Nayak is lone gymnastics representation at Tokyo Games

West Bengal’s women gymnast Pranati Nayak is the lone Indian who will compete in the vault event. Pranati’s competition will start on July 25.

Since several Tokyo Olympic qualification events were either postponed or canceled, the FIG reallocated continental quota places on the basis of 2019 performance.

Read: India at Olympics - Full list of Indian women athletes who have qualified

On the basis of winning a bronze medal at the 2019 Asian Gymnastics Championships, India’s Pranati Nayak was allotted continental quota by the FIG.

India’s celebrated gymnast Dipa Karmakar from Tripura, who finished fourth in women’s vault event at the 2016 Rio Olympics, failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games.