India picks gymnastics team for CWG amid chaos

India managed to enter a seven-member team of gymnasts in the upcoming Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in the last minute.

G. Aruna Reddy is also part of the seven-member gymnastics team for Commonwealth Games.

India managed to enter a seven-member team of gymnasts in the upcoming Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in the last minute, but not before going through a controversial episode which prompted one of the gymnasts to consider his legal options.

A 2010 Commonwealth Games medallist Ashish Kumar, Rakesh Patra and Yogeshwar Singh will represent the country in the men's artistic events, while G. Aruna Reddy, who recently won a World Cup bronze medal in Melbourne, Pranati Nayak and Pranati Das will feature in the women's artistic gymnastics.

G. Meghana Reddy will compete in rhythmic events.

Commonwealth Games and Asian Games medallist Dipa Karmakar, who received a lot of attention after finishing fourth in the Rio Olympics, will skip the mega event due to a knee injury.

The controversy emerged when Patra, a Roman rings specialist who finished fourth in the Melbourne World Cup, expressed his apprehension that he might be ignored for the CWG squad.

The speculation of two rookies being considered for selection fuelled the fire.

Patra, who had appeared in three apparatuses (Roman rings, parallel bars and horizontal bars) in the selection trials and had secured highest points in two of them, claimed that prior to the selection it was not announced whether athletes would be picked on the basis of their all-around scores.

According to informed sources, the controversy related to the selection, conducted by a committee comprising some individuals with debatable credentials in the sport and backed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), arose because of the rift within the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) family.

Intervention from the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) finally cleared the mess.

Veteran gymnastics coach R.N. Mangla said the controversy shouldn't have happened at all. “Indian gymnasts are good in individual apparatuses and can win medals in Commonwealth and Asian Games. In all-around we have no chance. If someone is best in a particular apparatus, then he should be selected,” said Mangla.

The squad:

Artistic gymnastics: Men: Ashish Kumar, Rakesh Patra and Yogeshwar Singh; Women: B. Aruna Reddy, Pranati Nayak and Pranati Das.

Rhythmic gymnastics: G. Meghana Reddy.