World Artistic Gymnastics Championships: Indian women's team finishes bottom of the table in Japan
India’s female gymnasts were competing at the 50th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. It was being held at Kitakyushu General Gymnasium in Japan. The Indian group finished bottom of the table in all-round qualification on Tuesday.
Only the top 24 advance to the medal round. In all-round qualification, competitors had to perform in four different apparatuses - vaults uneven bars, balance beam and floor.
The government has spent more than INR 30 lakh to give international exposure to the six-member national gymnastics team. It includes three members in the men’s group to compete at the World Championship. India's overall performance in the female section has been pedestrian.
Disappointing performances by the Indians at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
25-year-old Aruna Budda Reddy finished 46th in the all-round qualification on Tuesday. Of the 58 competitors in the fray, the top 24 advanced to the final. Pranati Das, 24, finished further down the ladder in 55th position. Shraddha Talekar, 27, finished at the bottom of the table.
Aruna Budda Reddy’s overall total in all-round qualification was 45.740 points. Pranati Das scored 42.964 points in all-round qualification and Shraddha Talekar, who finished last in the all-round, scored 40.132 points.
Aruna Budda Reddy, winner of the World Cup bronze medal in 2018 was far from her best in her season’s first major competition.
After failing to make the cut for the all-round final, Aruna, the World Cup bronze medalist couldn’t improve her performance in the individual events. She failed to advance into the medal round of the women's vault event. She finished 11th in the vault competition. Only the top eight gymnasts enter the final.
Performances by Pranati Das and Shraddha Talekar were below par in all-round as well as four individual events.
Men’s team consist of Ashish Kumar, Yogeshwar Singh and Abhijeet Kumar. The competition in the men's group will start later in the day.
Ashish Kumar, the 2010 Asian Games and Commonwealth Games medalist, will be the one to watch in the competition. He has been struggling with his form for the past two years. The ongoing world championships is Ashish Kumar’s first big competition of the 2021 season.
The World Championships will conclude on Sunday (October 24). Due to Covid-19 the annual competition coincided with the rescheduled Tokyo Olympic Games.
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