CWG 2022: Guts, glory and redemption time for cyclists, gymnasts

Incidentally, the gymnastic and the cycling team saw coaching changes recently. The earlier designated women's team coach, Rohit Jaiswal, was dropped from the CWG-bound team last week after he was accused by gymnast Aruna Budda Reddy for videographing her without consent. On the other hand, a female cyclist levelled allegations of "inappropriate behaviour" against the chief coach during a foreign exposure tour of Slovenia, leading to his sacking.

India's history at the Commonwealth Games

Gymnast look to bring back past gloryAfter Jaiswal's departure, the acclaimed Bishweshwar Nandi, who mentored Dipa Karmakar to a historic fourth place finish at the Rio Olympics, is back as in charge of the women's gymnastic contingent. Fresh from bagging a bronze at the Asian Championships last month, 27-year-old Pranati Nayak will spearhead the Indian challenge in the women's section. Pranati, who had courted criticism for her Tokyo Olympics 'substandard show', will perform the Tsukahara 720-degree turn and Handspring Straightbody with 540-degree turn, considered to be two high difficulty vaults. Then there's Nandi's new find, 18-year-old Protistha Samanta, fresh from her two World Cup appearances this year. She earned a creditable fourth place finish at Cairo. "I'm very hopeful of them (Pranati and Protistha). You never know if one of them gets into the finals. I'm really confident of a good show," Nandi told PTI, hoping for a second CWG medal from a woman gymnast after Dipa's bronze at the Glasgow edition in 2014. The men's team, comprising of Bengal's Satyajit Mondal, Yogeshwar Singh and Maharashtra Navy man Saif Tamboli, is also looks promising. Nicknamed 'Raja', Mondal finished a creditable fifth in the vault event on his