The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is finally sending Pranati Nayak only to the Hangzhou Asian Games, to be held next month. Nayak’s selection has been approved by the Sports Authority of India (SAI). 

SAI at the same time created a history! For the first time in the history of Indian gymnastics, the organization, showing extreme autocracy, ignored the gymnasts’ current performance to set the selection criterion! 

Even in a bid to omit Dipa Karmakar’s name from the list submitted by Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) SAI top brass changed the selection criterion it mentioned in its 10th July letter to the GFI before their selection trial for the Hangzhou Asian Games at Bhubaneswar. 

GFI president Sudhir Mittal speaking to Parallel Sports revealed, "The ministry's letter on 10th July stated that only the gymnast will be eligible to qualify for the Asian Games whose score will be equal to or more than the score of the 8th position-holder in the finals of the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. Dipa Karmakar not only earned the top spot, but her score surpassed the score of the 8th position-holder in the final round of the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games." 

Mittal added, "But when we sent the team list to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and SAI, Dipa's name was omitted and they all sudden changed the previous norm explaining that the score 8th position-holder in the qualifying round in Jakarta Asian Games has been considered and that was more than Dipa’s score in the selection trial and as she has not participated in competitions for last two years, she has been excluded from the Hangzhou Asian Games team.” 

GFI has appealed to both SAI and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports repeatedly, requesting them to consider Dipa’s name and explaining the reasons behind Dipa's absence in the competitions in the last two years. 

But SAI has not responded. Even in their reply to the GFI appeal, SAI top brass, commenting on Pranati Das explained that she might not have earned qualification for the Hangzhou Asian Games, still she is still a quality gymnast and that is why she might be considered for the exposure trip in future to strengthen her preparation. 

Pranati Das reacting to the explanation, blasted against SAI stating, "Do they know such criterion cannot be set in All-round gymnastics. If you want to be eligible in the All-round gymnastics for the Asian Games then your criterion should be to equal the score of the top 26th or top 32nd in the last Asian Games. This is just a plan to omit my name.”

The only Dronacharya coach in Indian gymnastics, Bisweswar Nandi wished Pranati Nayak for the Asian Games, and commented, “I played gymnastics for 15 years. My coaching career has been 37 years so far. I have never seen in last 50 years that the current performance of a gymnast is being ignored before any international tournament. I can only say SAI is killing the gymnastics in India.”