Six Indian gymnasts will be taking part in the 50th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2021 held at the Kitakyushu from October 18-24.
Aruna Reddy, Shraddha Talekar and Pranati Das will be leading India in the women’s events, while Ashish Kumar, Yogeshwar Singh and Abhijeet Kumar will represent India in the men’s events.
For the first time since 1996, World Artistic Gymnastics Championships are being conducted in the same year as the Olympics. The World Championships are generally held annually with the Olympic year being an exception. Due to COVID-19, the two events coincide this year.
India at World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2021
Women
Aruna won a bronze medal at the 2018 Gymnastics World Cup and was the first Indian to do so. Shraddha was the 2018 uneven bars national champion, while Pranati brings the experience of competing in two World Championships before.
2012 Rio Olympian Dipa Karmakar and Pranati Nayak, who competed at the Tokyo Games, will not be competing in the World Championships.
Men
Ashish Kumar has won bronze and silver in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and silver in the 2010 Asian Games. Additionally, Yogeshwar Singh, who has taken part in two world championships, and Abhijeet Kumar are also competing.
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The Indian gymnasts will start as rank outsiders in the field. The top contenders being Tokyo 2020 vault champion Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and the Russian Gymnastics Federation’s Angelina Melnikova and Vladislava Urazova, team all-around gold medallists at Tokyo 2020 in the women’s category.
Simone Biles, who is the reigning all-around world champion will not be participating in the event. Her U.S teammate and the 2020 all-around gold-medallist Sunisa Lee misses out as well.
Two-time Olympic champion, Kohei Uchimura and Hashimoto Daiki, both from Japan, are among the top contenders in the men’s division. This could be the last tournament for the six-time world champion Kohei Uchimura.
India squad for World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2021
Women : Aruna Reddy, Pranati Das, Shraddha Talekar
Men : Abhijeet Kumar, Ashish Kumar, Yogeshwar Singh
India schedule and time at World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2021
October 18
Women’s qualifying, subdivision 7- 3:45 PM IST onwards
October 20
Men’s qualifying, subdivision 8- 3:40 PM IST onwards
October 21
Women’s all-around final (if any Indians qualify)- 2:30 PM IST onwards
October 22
Men’s all-around final (if any Indians qualify)- 2:30 PM IST onwards
October 23
Apparatus finals (if any Indians qualify)- 12:40 PM IST onwards
October 24
Apparatus finals (if any Indians qualify)- 12:55 PM IST onwards
Where to watch the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2021 live in India?
Live streaming of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2021 will be available on the official YouTube channel of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the Olympic Channel.
However, there would not be a live telecast in India.
Live scores of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2021 will also be available on the FIG website.
(With inputs from Olympics website)
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