Acrobatics and Trampoline Gymnastics nationals on May 26-27

Mumbai, May 23 (UNI) The fourth National Acrobatics and Trampoline Gymnastics Championships and the Rhythmic Aerobics and Gymnastics invitational Nationals will open in Thane on May 26.

The nationals will be held under the auspices of Maharashtra Amateur Gymnastics Association and Thane District Gymnastics Association.

The joint venture is been supported by the Thane Municipal Corporation. They have sanctioned Rs 3.25 lakh for the hosting of this event at Saraswati Vidyalaya&Jr College, Rabodi, Thane.

Around 15 states including last year's winners West Bengal have confirmed their participation. In all 250 top gymnasts from Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Delhi, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Jammu&Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Services and Maharashtra will be on view at the championships, a release issued here today stated.

Host's Maharashtra will be fielding two teams in the competition.

It will be the first occasion in the nationals where prize money is at stake with the total prize money being Rs 75,000 with the Mayor's Cup been awarded to the top three teams in the championships.

This tournament is of great significance since the Indian team for the Asian Acrobatic&Gymnastics Championships will be selected on the performance of players here in the nationals.

The different events in which competition will be held are in Acrobatics are Men's Pairs, Women's Pairs, Mixed Pairs, while Trampoline and Trumbling would see individual competition for Men and Women.

Rhythmic competition for individuals with apparatus like Rope, Ribbon and Ball will be by the gymnasts to display their skills, while in Aerobics, competition will be for individual Men&Women, Mixed Pairs&Trios.

The tournament directors for this nationals are Kunda Karbhari for acrobatics, Makrand Joshi for Aerobics, Arun Patil for Trampoline / Trumbling and Varsha Upadhye for Rhythmic Gymnastics.

During the course of the tournament a meeting of the Technical Committee has also been scheduled to draw the calendar of tournaments for the next season.

Discussions will also be held for availing the services of a foreign coach for the betterment of the game at the grassroots level. A programme would be drawn in an effort to popularise the game at the school and college level in the near future.

UNI