Floor tests

The legend of Nadia Comaneci is a testament to what she reiterated throughout her post-performance career the singularity and indispensability of hard work. You may be gifted with a magically flexible body and lightness of being,but without practice,discipline and determination,it wont take you anywhere. India has not as yet produced a gymnast anywhere near Comanecis calibre. But to ponder tales of the persistence of young and gymnastics is a sport of youth Indian gymnasts readying up for the Commonwealth Games,as reported in The Sunday Express,is to momentarily inhabit the convergence of sadness and joy.

The naked truth: Indias last Olympics gymnastics appearance was in 1964,after which the International Gymnastics Federation FIG introduced a qualifying tournament to select only 12 nations that may send squads. Indias international gymnastics record is so abysmal as to raise the question of plain vanity in participating at world championships without any hope of success. But the judgment should be on the courageous young athletes who,from a very tender age,have kept at their sport despite the near-certainty of never earning name or fame,or even enjoying state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.

Perhaps the fact that gymnastics is aesthetics,above all,makes the individual athletes job so difficult. Spectators want entertainment from gymnasts,and the scoring takes that into account. Yet,thats also why people pay more attention to the single heroic gymnast than the flag s/he contests under. Coach Vladimir Chertkov has put a handful of Indians gymnasts in the top 30-50 FIG rankings. That is a big achievement. After the CWG,regardless of how his wards perform,training regimens should be assessed,laying the foundation of a more successful future for Indian gymnasts.