Artistic gymnastics c'ship ends at LPU

Jalandhar, November 29

A four-day Senior National Artistic Gymnastics Championship came to a close at Lovely Professional University (LPU) on Monday.

At the championship, India’s top men-women artistic gymnasts got announced in the field of their respective genre. Punjab Gymnastics Association under the aegis of the Gymnastics Federation of India organised the event.

The Railways was declared the top team as it won nine medals, including six gold, two silver and one bronze. Haryana was declared second with seven medals, three gold, two silver and two bronze. The Services team with one gold, three silver and five bronze was third. The Punjab team earned only two medals and was eleventh.

Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) MF Farooqui graced the conclusive day as the chief guest. Congratulating all medal winners and other participants, he invoked all to continue with hard work for bringing glory to the country. He also emphasised the cooperation among diverse sectors related to sports so that India may get more medals at the international level by fostering adequate sportsmen-women in the country.

Secretary Gymnastic Association of Punjab Kulwinder Singh Theara thanked the LPU management for providing the best infrastructure for organizing the championship.

In the women’s artistic gymnastics’ all-around overall category, Pranati Das of Railways was declared top with a score of 44.95; Shraddha Talekar of Maharashtra second (43.60); and Protistha Samanta of Tripura third (42.30). In the overall category for men, Yogeshwar Singh of Haryana; Siddharth Verma of Railways; and Bhaskar Das of Services were ranked first, second and third, respectively.

Artistic gymnastics judged its athletes individually through six competitive events, including floor exercise, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bars for men. For women, there were four competitions for floor exercise, vault, uneven bars, and balance beam. The points from each were added up to make up the total points and final standings of the gymnasts.

For women’s artistic gymnastics, the team championship was won by West Bengal; Maharashtra got second place; and, the Punjab team third position. In the four final events of women, toppers were Ritu Dass of West Bengal in balancing beam competition; Pranati Das of Railways in both floor exercise and uneven bars; and, Protistha Samanta of Tripura in vaulting table competition.