THOOTHUKUDI: The absence of a dedicated gymnastic facility has turned into a major stumbling block for all the athletes from the district, forcing them to train exclusively in private sports facilities with limitations in equipment. Despite having a number of gymnasts in the district, the lack of facilities has prevented the athletes, in several cases, from taking part in state and national-level competitions, which require dedicated equipment and facilities for training.
Gymnastics features 10 events, with six for men -- floor exercise, vaulting table, parallel bar, horizontal bar, roman rings, and pommel horse -- and four for women -- floor exercise, vaulting table, balancing team, and uneven bar. The sport requires a specialised indoor arena equipped with safety infrastructure, including mattresses, springboards, and crash mats, along with washrooms and dressing rooms for the athletes.
Thoothukudi District Amateur Gymnastics Players Association president E Rathnakumar said, "We were training at the indoor badminton stadium in Tharuvai ground and the district playground in Thoothukudi, but the officials closed the facilities for gymnastics training." For over 35 years, several athletes from the district, both men and women, have secured medals in state-level tournaments after receiving training from private academies, he said. However, even the SDATs' district-level events are conducted in Tirunelveli grounds, due to the lack of arenas in Thoothukudi, he said, urging the authorities concerned to build a dedicated arena for gymnasts.
When asked, a senior official from the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) said that space constraints at the district playground have prevented the construction of sports facilities. To address the issue, the district administration has identified a 10-acre plot of land near the government polytechnic institute and steps are being taken to send a proposal for a sports complex, the official added.