On National Girl Child Day Jammu and Kashmir's promising and rising star in rhythmic gymnastics, Muskan Rana, a 15-year-old trainee of the Gymnastic Academy of J&K Sports Council, has brought laurels to the Union Territory by clinching five medals in the ongoing Khelo India Youth Games 2024 being held in Chennai.
Muskan has bagged one gold, two silver, and one bronze medal at the national championship making J&K proud with her exceptional sports talent.
The J&K Sports Council has launched a number of initiatives to promote this Olympic sport in J&K. Established at Jammu's M A stadium, the Sports Council Gymnastics Academy has been equipped with state-of-the-art, world-class infrastructure. The Arjuna Awardee 'Krupali Singh' is one of the best-performing coaches imparting completely professional training to the players at this academy.
The Sports Authority of India has accredited this academy as Khelo India Academy for Gymnastics of national repute and athletes of this academy have performed admirably at the national and international competitions.
In the past two years, the trainees of this academy have earned eight gold, 15 silver, and nine bronze medals in the National Games, Khelo India Youth Games, and national championships.
Besides, 11 athletes have represented India in international competitions. Athletes like Bavleen Kour, Muskan Rana, Jagriti Thakur, Vaibhavi Sharma, Manya, Stuti Gupta, Sneha Dewan, Viomini Dogra, Vandhana Bharathi, Gourav Chettri, Yaadvi Mahajan, Manav Gupta, Lakhsya Mahajan, Sahil Sahi, Kamal Singh, Inderdeep Singh, Mayank Jain, Sudipti Khanna, Rudraksh Khanna, Ayman Tak, Pranvi Sharma, Aakshra Sharma, Riya Sharma, Triza Bilal, Prachi Sharma, Shranya Sharma and Hargun Kaur are regular trainees of Gymnastics Academy of J&K Sports Council who have made all of us proud time and again.
International standard equipment available to J&K's gymnasts
The J&K gymnasts' performance and accomplishments have increased significantly and they have won numerous medals because of the availability of international standard equipment. They have also performed incredibly well at various levels in both national and international competitions, such as the World and Asian Championships. During the past Khelo India Games, Muskan Rana and Bavleen Kaur won the best gymnasts of India titles in 2021 and 2022, along with winning medals for J&K.
This year, Muskan Rana, Manya, Vaibhav Sharma, and Jagriti Thakur again won the Team Championships in the recently held Junior National Championships held at Bengaluru, and the senior team won the silver medal for the UT.
Within three years, 13 gymnasts have competed at international competitions and won 80 medals including 25 gold, 34 silver, and 21 bronze at various National Games and Championships.
This academy has witnessed a golden age of sports in J&K. It has become the greatest gymnastics academy of the country under the dynamic leadership of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, who is also President of J&K Sports Council. The unending support and assistance being provided by the J&K government in terms of infrastructure, equipment, and training programs is undoubtedly paying off.
