The Hindu : Sport : Stage set for artistic gymnastics meet

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

Stage set for artistic gymnastics meet

HYDERABAD: With the Union Home Ministry having given clearance to the foreign teams' participation in the inaugural Rajiv Gandhi international artistic gymnastics championship for men and women, the stage is now set for the big event to be held in Hyderabad at Saroornagar Indoor Stadium here from August 18 to 21, according to Dr.C.N. Gopinatha Reddy, IPS and chairman of the organising committee.

Dr. Reddy told the media here on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh have already arrived while the other teams expected to reach the city on Wednesday are Jordan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Philippines, Iran, Vietnam and Syria. "We furnished whatever information was sought by the Union Home Ministry for the granting of visas in time, and so the above teams were cleared," he said.

The event costing about Rs. 1.5 crores would be essentially a warm-up event for the Asian championship to be held in Surat in January next, Dr. Reddy said. On the inaugural function, he said that 30-minute cultural programme by the Dilsukhnagar Public School students would be the highlight besides an unique performance by the gymnasts to mark the occasion. Chief Minister Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy will be the chief guest.

The organising committee chairman also said that each team would be allowed to field four competitors each in men and women's sections. Saudi Arabia would not be fielding it's women's team. Competitions will be held in floor exercises, pommel horse, Roman rings, vaulting horse, parallel bars and horizontal bars for men and in floor exercises, uneven bars, balancing beam, table horse (instead of the previous vaulting horse) for women. The total prize money of the event is Rs. 10 lakhs and competitions will in all probability be telecast live by the Doordarshan, Dr. Reddy stated.

Sadbhavana Run

The Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Run will be organised by Rajya Sabha member V. Hanumantha Rao to commemorate the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on August 20.

The run will be flagged at 7.30 am off from Mahatma Gandhi Statue (Secunderabad) and pass past Jawaharlal Nehru Statue (Abids), Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Statue (Tank Bund), Babu Jagjivan Ram Statue (Nizam College) and culminate at the Rajiv Gandhi Statue in Somajiguda by 9.30 a.m.

All the athletes, present and past, are requested to take part and make it a big success. Chief Minister Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and Mr. D. Keshava Rao, president APCC, will address the gathering at the concluding point.

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