Dipa Karmakar has spent Saturday morning, wiping off tears to put in a three-hour solid training session after she heard her name was scratched out from the Asian Games list along with others. “She told me she wants to be in gymnastics for the next 2-3 years and will not give up despite this. But this decision to randomly pull out some rule to stop gymnasts from going to Hangzhou will destroy Indian gymnastics,” says Dronacharya awardee and renowned coach Bishweshwar Nandi.
Dipa, who finished 4th at the Rio Olympics, said she needed time to compose herself and come to terms with what had happened. Dipa had topped the Asian Games trials but hadn’t competed recently because of a doping ban.
The rule Nandi is talking about is a criteria set on July 10 Clause 1 of which reads: “In individual events during the last twelve months prior to the commencement of the event, the performance of the sportspersons should not be less than the performance achieved by the 8th position holder of the 2018 Asian Games in measurable sports.”
Nandi says the Sports Authority of India Director General is being misled by a person who’s not competent enough to decide the criteria, who pulled out the rule and applied it arbitrarily post the trials. “He claims to be a coach and expert but he’s never coached any real gymnast on the mat. He’s never had a student who’s reached anywhere, and for 25 years he’s been doing a clerical job, but he got to decide who goes and who doesn’t,” the angry coach said. “Indian gymnastics ka satyaanash kar diyaa,” (has been destroyed) he added.
Pranati Nayak, who will travel to China, was given an exemption from the trials based on her performance at the Asian Championship earlier in the year.
“He’s not aware of ground realities. Let this person who applied the criterion get onto the ground, spot talent and coach them to any good level. Then he’ll know how things work in gymnastics in terms of peaking for a competition instead of making up rules arbitrarily,” Nandi raged.
Stressing that Dipa was in good shape, fit and raring to go at the Asian Games, he refuted claims that she had admitted to not being eligible. “They asked us to send an application and give in writing, despite her topping the trials which the federation had informed SAI about. She only wrote the truth that she had been out of competition due to suspension and injury for two years, so she couldn’t fulfill the new criterion of a Top 8 finish in the last two years. How could she when she wasn’t in competition?” Nandi says.
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The said notification (see Box) which GFI received a day before trials leaves plenty open to interpretation, and the GFI says the rule was applied post-trials.
GFI president Sudhir Mittal insisted Dipa meets the Sports Ministry standard that was set in place. “We feel she meets the standard. She’s been training hard, but couldn’t compete because of the suspension. Her fitness levels at the selection trial were very high. She’s a medal prospect as far as we are concerned. They told us she hasn’t obtained the desired marks and hence hasn’t qualified. Ultimate decision is with the Ministry.”
A letter from GFI to the sports ministry earlier had spoken of the new criteria adopted. “We reviewed the evaluation by the SAI officials and realised that the SAI officials used a new criteria to evaluate the gymnasts which was not consistent with the criteria published by the MYAS. The inconsistency in the application of selection criteria is resulting in the elimination of established gymnasts like Dipa Karmakar, Rakesh Patra, Yogeshwar Singh etc, who have already proved their capability and fulfill the criteria published by MYAS.”
The federation had written to SAI about holding the trials, and received the go-ahead, Nandi said. “Ours is a technical game of movements, where injuries happen. How can you make a criterion where you base it on old performance? I’ve never seen this, and I’ve been in gymnastics since 1971. Had Dipa finished 4th or 5th we would still understand. Right now she’s ready to contend for a final and a medal, and there is still time to prepare. She has more marks than the one going. She won a fair and transparent trial and is still on top. How can you say Dipa surrendered her right to go?” Nandi added.
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“Had they said she had to meet a certain score before the trials, we would have prepared for that. She went in wanting to top the trials and she topped them. There is still time and she can score higher. Anyone with technical knowledge of this sport would’ve understood this. I urge SAI and the government to reconsider this.”
Nandi also reckons such decisions can be easily taken in Delhi because she belongs to a small north eastern state. “Had we been from UP, MP, Bengal, Gujarat or even Assam which is a bigger state, we would not have been treated this way. It is my strong feeling that because we are from Tripura, which doesn’t have a voice, they could do this,” Nandi claimed. “She has worked hard for this comeback. We will play at forthcoming World Cups if she’s not allowed for Asian Games. But what’s happened is wrong,” he ended. “Gymnastics is the mother of sports, and they have strangled it by disallowing these gymnasts to go to Asian Games while not applying their interpretation to other sports.”
How Dipa missed out
* Dipa Karmakar finished with a score of 12.80 on the vault in the trials held last month.
* The Asian Games 8th place qualification score is 13.225 and Final 8th position score is 12.650. In fact, the 7th position at Jakarta scored 12.775. Compared with the recent Asian Championship this June, to compare form, 8th position was 12.733 in qualification and 12.417 in Final.
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* The rule applicable according to a July 10 notification says, “In individual events during the last twelve months prior to the commencement of the event, the performance of the sportspersons should not be less than the performance achieved by the 8th position holder of the 2018 Asian Games in measurable sports.”
* SAI’s DDG Shiv Sharma defending the decision contends, “The Federation conducted the trials after we sent the notification so they were aware of it. We are considering the Qualification score because it’s like heats, you need to clear them, they are of consequence to get into the Final, which ends up only being tactical. Anyway SAI is only a recommendatory body, the final call rests with the Ministry.”
* GFI President Sudhir Mittal was categorical in denying that they were informed that the Qualification score would be considered, and not Final. “The circular says ‘Performance achieved by the 8th position holder of the 2018 Asian Games’. It is open to interpretation, so No, we were not informed of this specific. We believe she is eligible, going by Clause 1.”
