The Times of India reports that despite missing out on a place at the London 2012 Test Event for a last chance bid to qualify for the Olympics, their start gymnast Ashish Kumar, may still make it to London this summer.
Kumar, who won India’s first ever gymnastics Commonwealth Games medals back in 2010 failed to make the cut at last years World Championships in Tokyo. To have a chance to compete at the Test Event last month, gymnasts must have met the standard mark of 80% or higher, Kumar just missed out, scoring 79.3%. Kumar sites his controversial coach Vladimir Cherktov and his rigorous training methods as the reason for his poor performance at the World Championships. A training camp prior to the World Championships was set up by Cherktov following the Belgian World Cup:
“A gymnast needs at least 15-20 days’ time to recover after a long training stint and tournaments. I was given just seven days and as a result I could not deliver the desired results in Tokyo,” .
The FIG has five wild cards which they can award to gymnasts who they feel should make the cut and be at London this summer. Kumar hopes to be one of these gymnasts. Although if he does receive a wildcard, who will coach him? Cherktov is said to have left India.
What do you think? Which five gymnasts do you think deserve a wildcard? Leave a comment below
Photo Via Ghetty Images.
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Ashish Kumar has a womderful floor routine and it was disappointing to see him miss the cut for London 2012. I wish he had other strong routines besides the floor to beef up his claim for the wild card entry. He is still young and has a bright future ahead of him. Wish him all the best.
One gymnast I like for the wild card entry is Prashanth Sellathurai, a Pommel Horse specialist from Australia. He had an unfortunate, rarely seen, error at the Tokyo World Championship that knocked him out of the medal round.