After being left out of CWG team, gymnast Ashish Kumar demands probe
The gymnast has alleged that other athletes who finished below him were included in the team but he wasn't.
Gymnast Ashish Kumar, who has won medals at the Commonwealth Games (2010) and Asian Games (2010), believes that he was unfairly kept out of India's 2022 Commonwealth Games squad during the selection trials in March this year.
He has demanded a thorough probe by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and an analysis of videotapes of the trials by a panel of foreign experts, and is ready to take the matter to the courts if no action is taken as he doesn’t want the “corrupt system” in sports to grow.
“I have been a regular victim of the system, and even some of the batchmates of mine and a coach are executing a conspiracy against me. I did everything to win medals for my country. It's really a bad day for sports that an athlete like me is being victimised by the system,” said Ashish on Friday.
“I demand a thorough enquiry into the issue and a review of the trials by a panel of foreign experts. If I don’t get justice, I will move to the court for this. One of my coaches wanted me to recommend his name for the Dronacharya Award after I won at the 2010 Games,” he said. “Instead, I took the name of my coach DK Rathore, who taught me the finer points of the game for 10-12 years.”
In a letter sent to the Gymnastics Federation of India, Sports Authority of India and Union Sports Minister, Anurag Thakur, Ashish states that the video analysis of the top eight gymnasts at the trials by the international federation (FIG) will prove his point that a few judges and some members of the selection committee were together lobbying against him for their personal reasons.
“It’s true that I did finish fifth in the all-around rankings after just one fall in the floor exercise, but gymnasts, who finished below me were included in the team. When you go to higher difficulties in gymnastics, ups and downs are bound to happen. But we also have hope of a medal from a gymnast who has higher difficulty.”
Kumar, who is currently training at a private academy in Hyderabad, said that his winning of medals at the recently held All India departmental competition is ample proof of his fitness.
Only last week, SAI promised to look into the matter and subsequently sought a report on the issue from the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI).
