GFI president Sudhir Mittal, in a letter addressed to SAI director general Sandip Pradhan on Monday, said that recent news about the gymnasts created confusion

The Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) has again written to the Sports Authority of India (SAI), advocating the participation of the selected gymnasts, including Olympian Dipa Karmakar, in the Hangzhou Asian Games.

GFI president Sudhir Mittal, in a letter addressed to SAI director general Sandip Pradhan on Monday, said that recent news about the gymnasts created confusion. He underlined that the gymnasts fulfilled the eligibility criteria set by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) in its July 10 circular.

“Some days back, I had received a telephone call from Inderjeet Singh Pabla, SAI, questioning our selection of gymnasts for the Asian Games on basis of some internal analysis/criteria of SAI (which has not been officially communicated to us) wherein I had once again explained to him in detail about our understanding of fulfilling the eligibility by the selected gymnasts as laid out by MYAS,” said the letter.

“It appears that the SAI analysis is limited to evaluating the (sic) players basis past performance alone. Though past performance definitely should be taken into consideration, I am sure you will appreciate it is the present form of a player that matters most in determining the performance potential at the forthcoming Asian Games…”

While the SAI has reportedly recommended the participation of two gymnasts to the Ministry, the GFI chief has provided detailed reports of 16 athletes, including 11 (nine artistic and two trampoline gymnasts) meeting the MYAS criteria and five named for international exposure, for consideration.