City gymnast making big strides

Anil Datt

Ludhiana, February 15

City lad Keshav Thakur (19) was adjudged the best all-round gymnast in the Panjab University Inter-College Gymnastics Championship held on February 12 on the university campus in Chandigarh.

Keshav stamped his class by winning one gold and five silver medals and hence was declared the best all-round gymnast. He clinched gold besides annexing silver medals in the pommel horse, parallel bars, high bar, still rings and team event.

Keshav has already proved his mettle by winning positions at different competitions. He started taking part in gymnastics in 2008 under the guidance of Prem Singh, his father and senior coach with the Punjab Sports Department.

Keshav impressed with his abilities, zeal to excel and also began achieving the desired results instantly. After making his presence felt at the district-level tournaments, he gave improved performance in the state-level competitions, wherein he stamped his superiority.

Last year, Keshav was named the second best gymnast in the Punjab State Games held under the Punjab Tandarust Mission at Patiala. He secured six medals to help Ludhiana squad finish as runners-up.

At Patiala, Keshav emerged winner in the Roman rings and parallel bars events to clinch gold medals. He secured a silver medal in the high bar event besides securing bronze medals in the table vault and pommel horse events. In addition to this, Keshav was named the second all-round gymnast.

In 2017, Keshav represented Punjab in the 63rd National School Games, organised by the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) at Kolkata, in which he was adjudged the 3rd best all-round gymnast winning bronze medals in roman rings and parallel bars events. The Punjab squad finished at the third place in these games.

Keshav gave an outstanding performance in the Punjab State Judo Championship (U-19) held at Gurdaspur the same year, wherein he made a clean sweep by winning all 8 gold medals and was declared the best all-round gymnast.

He continued with his consistent performance last year as well. He participated in the Senior Punjab State Gymnastics Championship at Jalandhar, where he along with two co- trainees — Vinod Bhatt and Mukesh Kumar — represented Ludhiana district.

Keshav bagged four medals, including one gold and two silver medals, in the championship. He notched up top honours in Roman rings, silver medals in floor exercise and parallel bars besides a bronze medal in pommel horse event.

Keshav was adjudged the second best all-round gymnast, while the Punjab contingent secured the third position at Jalandhar.

This performance fetched Keshav a berth in the Punjab contingent in the Khelo India held at Pune. Three other members of the Punjab team were from Patiala.

In 2018, while representing Panjab University in the All-India Inter-Universities Gymnastics Tournament held at Chandigarh, in which participants from as many as 60 universities from all over the country participated, Keshav helped his team emerge overall champions.

Keshav won three gold medals in this championship that included parallel bars, team event and the best all-round gymnast.

District Sports Officer Ravinder Singh appreciated Keshav’s achievements and wished him good luck for future competitions. He exuded confidence that other trainees would be motivated by this promising gymnast and work hard to excel in their respective sport disciplines.