It was a time of Honour for the Indian Gymnastics when India finished high on performance and medals at the 4th South Central Asian Gymnastics Championship held at Dhaka.
The Indian team comprising of 5 Men and 4 Women secured a total of 17 medals which included 6 Gold Medals. Mr Chandrashekhar and Mr B S Nandi accompanied the team as coach of the Men’s and Women’s team respectively while Mr Ajay Gandotra headed the team.
The Men’s team won the Silver Medal at the Men’s Team Championship event with a total of 246.90 points. Uzbekistan clinched the Gold Medal with 248.90 points while Sri Lanka managed to secure the Bronze Medal scoring 214.65 points. The men’s team comprised of Ashish Kumar, Alok Ranjan, Devesh Kumar, Aditya Rana and Iqrar Hasan.
The Women’s team did even well to secure the apex position and grabbed the Gold Medal in the Women’s team event at the competition. It was followed by Bangladesh winning the Silver and Sri Lanka managing to secure the Bronze medal. The women’s team comprised of Dipa Karmakar, Meenakshi, Rucha Diveker and Vandita Rawal.
Dhaka (Bangladesh) hosted the 4th Edition of the South Central Asian Gymnastics Championship from 26th to 28th December, 2011. It is inspiring to note that all the six south central Asian nations namely, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan are participating in this championship.
Ashish Kumar became the best male gymnast of the tournament for his achievement of 4 individual Gold Medals along with an individual bronze and silver in Team.
In the women’s section, Dipa Karmakar of Tripura made India Proud with a Gold Medal on Table Vault coupled with a Team Gold in addition to 2 silver and bronze on other events.
The other Indian Medal winners were Alok Ranjan of Allahabad (Bronze on Pommel), Devesh Kumar of Allahabad (Bronze on Parallel Bars), Meenakshi of Punjab (Silver on Vault & Floor and bronze in All Around) and Rucha Divekar of Pune (Bronze on Floor).