Chennai: Tamil Nadu Gymnastics Association is conducting the State Championships for Artistic Gymnastics for the years 2021-2022 at the SDAT Hall of Gymnastics, Velachery. This is the first time that the event has been conducted since 2016 with recognition from the SDAT and Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) and ~200 gymnasts are representing districts across Tamil Nadu.
“Artistic Gymnastics” is the Olympic sport that was boosted to the limelight by the performance of Dipa Karmakar when she narrowly missed Bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics. “There is tremendous potential for the development of gymnastics in India – and Tamil Nadu in particular” said Th. Roghabarani, the President of TNGA. “However, unfortunate association politics have seen gymnastics derecognised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs in 2012 and only just reinstated in 2021 under the new leadership of GFI and fully recognised by the international parent body, FIG. In Tamil Nadu as well there were problems, but now the current TNGA team is recognised by GFI and SDAT and is immediately making sure that competitions and coaching camps are conducted. In fact, we overcame an attempt to have a High Court stay order on the event that we won at 3:00pm just yesterday! We are here to support the kids, coaches, parents – and deliver results for Tamil Nadu – and this highly successful event is proof of that commitment.” he continued.
Chief Guest Ajit Sigamani – Founder and Technical Director of MMA India, and 4-time Team India MMA Coach – talked about the similarities of the multi-functional aspects between MMA and Gymnastics. He was vocal about the need for qualified coaches – and for holding coaches accountable for the performance of the State and National players. Vridhi Singhvi, India’s first woman medalist at the MMA World Championships and 2-time National MMA champion – and recently felicitated by the Hon’ble Chief Minister Th. M.K. Stalin, provided inspiration to the young gymnasts with her story of success from Chennai to the international stage.
Mrs. Nirmala Ramdas, Managing Trustee of the C.N.Ramdas Champions Development Trust, made a generous donation of Rs.5 lakhs towards equipment and coaches development in the districts. Mr.Girish Ramdas, CEO of Magzter, Inc. spoke about how the Ramdas Trust has helped with both sports development and was also active during COVID relief efforts.
The General Secretary, Th G. Bala, was very appreciative of the efforts of the TNGA team, district sports officials and the SDAT in making the event successful.
