Former Asiad medallist Ashish Kumar dropped from GFI's SOM roster over eligibility criteria

The Gymnastics Federation of India has dropped former Commonwealth and Asian Games bronze-winner Ashish Kumar from its Sportspersons of Merit (SOM) roster as it responded to complaints of alleged irregularities in the selection process, describing them as a misunderstanding on being questioned by the Sports Ministry.

As per the National Sports Governance Act, the SOM appointees are required to retire at least one year before applying for the position. Ashish and another gymnast Aditya Rana, who were included in GFI's "provisional" SOM roster, competed as recently as April-May during a domestic event in Bhubaneswar.

The Ministry sought GFIs response on complaints that they were included despite being ineligible. Former national champion Rakesh Kumar Patra, who is part of the revised SOM roster, was among the complainants.

The GFI acknowledged including Ashish and Aditya based on their own declaration of being retired but said necessary "corrective action" was taken after scrutiny of applications and supporting documents, including retirement status.

It also asserted that the action was initiated before Patra's complaint on July 30. The GFI's official website posted the revised SOM list on August 6. Neither Ashish, nor Aditya are included in it.

The 35-year-old Ashish won bronze medals in the 2010 Commonwealth and Asian Games in floor exercises. He also won a vault silver at the 2010 CWG.

The revised SOM list also features the trailblazing Dipa Karmakar, who retired in 2024, former World Cup bronze-medallist Aruna Reddy and Asian Championships silver-medallist Rohit Jaiswal among others.

The National Sports Governance Act mandates the creation of a roster of former athletes which should be 10 times the number of SOMs required in a National Sports Federation's General Body.

Four SOMs are mandatory in every NSF Executive Committee at any given time as per the act which came into operation in January this year. Therefore, NSFs are required to have a roster of 40 SOMs (20 male and 20 female).

Patra, who represented India at five World Championships, also alleged that the GFI had violated the provisions of the National Sports Governance Act by asking aspirants to produce mandatory recommendations from state associations, "defeating the objective of giving distinguished athletes independent representation in the federation's governance."

Responding to the Sports Ministry, the GFI stated that the former gymnast's grievances were driven by a "misunderstanding" of the process. The GFI said the recommendations were never compulsory and were only sought as optional supporting documents.

The GFI said it did not reject applications for the lack of a recommendation and no applicant was coerced to submit such a document.

A ministry source said that with the GFI clarifying its position on two of the most contentious points, no active intervention would be needed in this case.

The GFI said that Patra's application was initially stuck because of the non-submission of his retirement declaration.

However, with his name included in the revised roster, issues pertaining to his application stand resolved.

The GFI said it allowed applicants to correct minor documentation lapses during the selection process to ensure that no worthy name was left out on account of "curable procedural deficiencies".

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Bridge Desk. It is published from a syndicated feed.)