Indian Gymnasts prepare the Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games are just a few months away and India’s top sportspersons are getting ready for the mega event. But the gymnasts have been forced to train with old and faulty equipments.
The gymnastics camp at the ongoing Senior National Championship in Tamil Nadu’ s Erode shows the equipment they train with is far from world class, and not fit for champions. Coaches say this is affecting the performance of the gymnasts.
“They tried to get equipment but it’s a let down. The performance of the players has gone down because of this,” says Nirbhaya Singh, National Camps Chief Coach.
Arjuna Award winner Kalpana Debnath echoes Singh.
“As far as India is concerned in some tournaments, even this much is not there. So keeping that in mind this is quite good,” says Kalpana.
Gymnastics is the only sport after swimming to have the highest number of medals on the offering.
But in spite of being the host country, India is failing to make use of the advantage.
As Commonwealth Games approach Indian gymnasts are yet to practice on world class equipment and most of the states have only basic school-level equipments.
With such state of affairs, winning medals in the Commonwealth Games seems like a distant dream for the country.
