National Gymnastics
Imphal, March 31: Manipur is going to host the Senior National Gymnastics Championship in January next year to give a major boost to the discipline.
S. Shantikumar Singh, the general secretary of the All Manipur Gymnastic Association and also the joint secretary of the Gymnastics Federation of India, stated this during a media briefing regarding India’s performance at the 3rd Artistic Gymnastics World Cup at Doha in March, in which he was the team manager.
Shantikumar added that in Manipur, gymnastics was at its peak in the early eighties but nowadays the impact seems to be less and some players have even switched to other disciplines. “We are going through a rough patch with no exposure for long,” he said.
However, Shantikumar said, “We will be holding our basic training programmes at Heirangoithong, Canchipur and Takyel in addition to regular training at Khuman Lampak Indoor Hall. As of now, we have about 70 gymnasts and seven coaches in the state and we need to reach out more.”
He further said the holding of the Senior National Gymnastics in Imphal would be of immense help to boost the morale of the players as well to the future of gymnastics in the state.
About the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup at Doha, Shantikumar said though India had failed to win medals in the competition, the gymnasts had done a wonderful job in making it to the top eight and fetching the cash prize.
“This is a big foray and we have made our presence felt among the top guns,” he said.