JAMMU, June 10:
Despite being the most sought-after athletes in the State with 13 Sheri-i-Kashmir awards and two State awards in their kitty, the gymnasts are struggling hard because of the lack of facilities.
Coaches, Surinder Pal Singh and his wife Krupali Singh along with Manisha and other gymnastic coaches are doing their best to train these sportspersons but the biggest hurdle in their endeavour is the fact that these gymnasts are involved in ‘Aerobic Gymnastics’, which is not an Olympic discipline.
However, Singh is optimistic that the discipline will be included into the Olympic schedule sooner than later and so are his wards.
“Who doesn’t want to be an Olympian,” asks Mayank Jain, whom Singh rates as one of the best talents for the future.
Mayank, though, points that the disciplines of gymnastics that are included in the Olympics demand huge infrastructure, which the State currently lacks.
Even as the youngsters face huge challenges in absence of proper equipment, they have learned the art of turning adversities into positives.
“We get wooden boards here for the practice, there is not much bounce in them, we have to work hard here to get the desired results, but that helps us increase our stamina,” said Tejpal Kaur, the youngest member of the team.
“When we go abroad to participate in any event the conditions there are entirely different, and we get even better results with the kind of effort we are used to put in here, so in that sense it is an advantage for us,” she added.
Surinder desperately wants one of his wards to win an Olympic medal.
“I have achieved everything. An Olympic medal is probably the only thing missing from my life,” said Singh, a former national gymnast.
J&K gymnasts, in the 12th World Aerobic Gymnastics Championship in Sofia (Bulgaria), finished 10th among a group of 42 countries, a jump of two places from the previous performance, and Surinder Singh says the team is improving.
“Last we finished 12th, so there is an improvement. Particularly with the age still on their side, we are going to improve further in future,” said Singh.
Surinder and Krupali, an Arjuna awardee, took to gymnastics at a time when nobody here knew about the sport.
It was captain Sardar Waryam Singh of Services, fondly remembered by Surinder as ‘guruji’, who introduced the sport to him.
“It was guruji, who introduced me to the gymnastics and with the time it became a passion for me. Gymnastics was totally an unknown sport, and it won’t be wrong to say that guruji is the father of J&K gymnastics,” insisted Surinder.
Captain Singh used to travel all the way from the border area of Ramgarh in Samba, about 45 kms from here, on cycle with pot of milk to the stadium and whichever kid would reach the venue first will get the pot.
“So every time we used to race to the ground to get our hands on the pot,” recalled Surinder.
“We used to stay near the stadium and every evening we used to throng to the ground playing all type of silly games…Had it not been for ‘guruji’, probably I would have never been what I am today,” said Surinder, who is a qualified gymnastics coach and an international judge. (PTI)
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