Mann Kothari, 17, recently won the title of junior national champion in men’s artistic gymnastics at the All Age Group National Gymnastics Championships 2024-25 in Surat. He hopes to repeat the feat in the senior division before pursuing his dream of competing for India in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Speaking about his junior nationals tournament, Kothari emphasized the sport’s advancement in recent years, including the hiring of international coaches by state teams and the improvement of the nation’s infrastructure.

“The actual competition was difficult. despite the fact that gymnastics is still a relatively unknown sport in India. However, since so much money is being invested in gymnastics, it is really growing and the standard is improving extremely rapidly. For example, it has been a few years since Odisha and Uttar Pradesh hired an outside international coach. International coaches have been present, and some communities are constructing new gymnastics facilities. In a virtual interview with IANS, Kothari said, “Even I spent six months in the UK for training last year.”

Originally from Mumbai, the adolescent began gymnastics at the age of five and has been training at Prabodhankar Thackeray Krida Sankul in Vile Parle.

“I began gymnastics in Singapore when I was five years old. I went on to win a few invitational contests. There, I became interested. After that, we moved to India. Since then, I have been working at Mumbai’s Prabodhankar Thackeray Krida Sankul (PTKS). Vishal Sir and Shailendra Sir are the coaches there. My primary trainer is Vishal Sir. In the sub-junior division, I had also participated in the national tournament,” Kothari said.

The child also participated in the Khelo India Youth Games in 2023, where he took home silver and bronze. Kothari spoke about how being seen in Khelo India gave him confidence and created new opportunities.

“Khelo India was my first national junior tournament, but it was a positive experience and I even took home medals. Thus, it was a really positive experience. Through their actions and the level I needed to reach to earn a medal at the junior national, I actually got to know my competition,” he added.

“Although it is a little difficult right now, I believe that with the increasing infrastructure and the hiring of foreign coaches, it is still feasible to compete at the world level if one is dedicated. Khelo India has provided invaluable assistance. First of all, the exposure is excellent, and second, there are camps in Delhi where you may train at the Khelo India camp. I go to Pune for my training because of the excellent facilities there. The facilities there are excellent, and it was just converted into a Khelo India Center. I’m able to go overseas and train in the UK thanks to scholarships,” Kothari said.

The adolescent cited Japanese artistic gymnast Kohei Uchimura, a seven-time Olympic medalist, as his inspiration when asked who he looked up to in gymnastics. Kothari’s goal is to qualify for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

I look up to Kohei Uchimura. In addition to winning seven Olympic medals, this Japanese gymnast has won the world championship many times. My goal is to qualify for the 2028 Olympics and then win a gold for India in the 2036 Olympics because he is my role model,” he said.

Kothari emphasized how young people like him were motivated to succeed in gymnastics by Dipa Karmakar’s qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics. In the vault event, she almost missed a medal by 0.15 points, making her the first Indian female gymnast to participate in the Olympics. She is also one of the very few gymnasts who have successfully landed the renowned Produnova vault worldwide.

“It was inspirational, the first gymnast from India to represent at the Olympics was a huge deal and I want to be the first one to do it in men’s artistic gymnastics because no one until now has done the same thing in men’s artistic gymnastics,” said Kothari.

He went on to say that the biggest obstacles facing aspiring gymnasts in the nation are a lack of recognition and a shortage of qualified instructors. There is relatively little exposure since the Gymnastics Federation of India doesn’t send many athletes to international competitions, and coaching is another issue because the instructors lack expertise. We sort of struggle to actually figure out the method, but I believe that with the support of the foreign coaches, both the athletes and the coaches will be able to grasp the technique more easily. Next is the infrastructure, which is becoming better.

Kothari’s next goal is to represent India in the continental tournament and earn a spot in the Asian Gymnastics Championships in Jecheon, South Korea, later this year.

“I’ll be having my Asian championship qualifiers and then representing India is the next step by qualifying for the Asians which is in Korea in June,” he said.