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Pune gymnastics: Fit, flexible, but no table to vault off
City gymnasts won medals at rhythmic gymnastics meet in Hyderabad; so, what’s next?
Gymnasts from Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad bagged a lion’s share of medals at the recently-held Indian rhythmic gymnastics cup in Hyderabad.
The city bagged 12 medals, comprising four golds, two silvers and five bronze. Meera Abhyankar, Yuhavi Suratwala and Swara Mahabaleshwarkar are the gold winners.
Suratwala, a Class 6 student at Carmel English medium high school, bagged two golds and a silver. Abhyankar, a Class 4 student at BSM English medium school, won two golds; and Mahabaleshwarkar, a Class 3 student at DAV public school, bagged a gold and a bronze at the invitational international event.
Gymnasts from three academies (Heaven Sports development & research centre, Koya fitness academy and Alacrity sports research and art academy) participated in the event held on February 16-17, 2019, in the u-10, u-12 and u-15 categories.
Savita Marathe, coach at Maharashtra Mandal, believes international coaching is the key for the future.
“There are a lot of girls from Maharashtra who represent India at the international level in gymnastics, but the problems we face in achieving higher goals is that we don’t have international coaches who can provide that level of coaching to our gymnasts.”
“We also don’t have the carpets on which these disciplines of gymnastics take place at the world level. In India, it’s only available in Delhi. In Pune if we get a single carpet on which we can practice, it can boost the sport and the moral of gymnasts,” Marathe says.
Abhishri Rajput, director, Koya Fitness, and also a national-level judge says, “Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad has enough talented gymnastic youth who can bag medals at the world championships and Olympics, but we are short of space and infrastructure.”
“Rhythmic gymnastics is professionally more a girls’ sport; hence, we need more female coaches who are experienced,” Rajput adds.
Madhura Tambe, coach of Alacrity sports, adds, “Pune has always produced good gymnasts - be it the Asian Games 1982 or the gymnastics world cup. Pune has many Chatrapati awards for this sport. Rhythmic gymnastics in India is comparatively new and gaining a lot of popularity, so it definitely holds a bright future.
To bag international medals we should have long-term plans, says Makarand Joshi
Makarand Joshi, secretary, Maharashtra Amateur Gymnastics Association, points to the Balewadi stadium and the clubs, like Maharastra Mandal, in the city.
“Pune gymnasts have the talent to prove their metal in the international arena. The basic need is to nurture them and we should have long-term plans, only then can we can bag international medals.”
On the plans to improve infrastructure and provide better coaching for gymnasts, Joshi says, “We are short of big halls and many standard equipments. To improve that we are reaching out to different institutes those have enough space and can provide economically, to develop big halls and standard equipments. Millenium English school recently imported equipments from China. We can see the results of Khelo India, where Maharashtra bagged various medals.”
PUNE’S GYMNASTICS CALENDAR
Gymnastics starts in August and keeps on till April, but is shut from April to August, because students, the gymnasts, have to be in school. Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad each have one individual team at the state-level championships.
MARCH:
1. Pimpri-Chinchwad district championship and state trial selections
Venue: Golande Estate, PimpriChinchwad
2. 29th Rhythmic gymnastics state championship
Venue: Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal, Amaravati
AUGUST:
Inter-school championship
Venue: Muktangan English Medium School, Parvati and Maharashtra Mandal, Tilak road
SEPTEMBER:
District competition (selects best team for state championships)
Venue: To be decided.
OCTOBER:
1. Zonal competition for Pune district
Venue: Maharashtra Mandal, Tilak road
2. Indian rhythmic gymnastics cup (second edition)
Venue: Hyderabad, Gachibowli
OCTOBER- NOVEMBER:
School state gymnastics competition
Venue: To be decided
DECEMBER:
School nationals
Venue: To be decided.
