2010: Ashish Kumar gives India its first medals in gymnastics at Asian Games, CWG
India’s most decorated gymnast is Ashish Kumar. He gained notoriety in 2010 after taking home two medals (a silver and a bronze) from the Commonwealth Games and a bronze from the Asian Games.
In a competition of this stature, India had never won a gymnastics medal.
At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, Ashish Kumar first made history by taking home the bronze medal in men’s floor exercise gymnastics.
Ashish placed third in the individual apparatus men’s artistic category with a floor score of 14.475, behind Australian Thomas Pichler (14.675) and Englishman Reiss Beckford (14.625).
He followed it up the next day with a silver medal in the men’s individual vault.
The 19-year-old from Allahabad finished second to Englishman Luke Folwell with 15.312 points in a competitive field (15.762). Canadian Ian Galvan (15.037) won the bronze.
The Indian gymnast put another feather to his crown by earning the nation’s first-ever gymnastic medal, a bronze, at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, the very following month after his spectacular performance at the Commonwealth Games.
The Indian gymnast is currently engaged in a contentious dispute with the federation over allegations of favouritism in the selection processes for the upcoming Birmingham Commonwealth Games, following the highs of earning India’s first-ever medals at the CWG and Asian Games.
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