CWG 2014: Gymnast Ashish disappoints, ends campaign after fall

Glasgow: Indian gymnast Ashish Kumar`s campaign in the Commonwealth Games ended on a disappointing note as he finished last in the men`s vault final due to a fall on the mat here on Friday.

Ashish had won silver in vault and bronze in floor event in 2010 Delhi CWG to become the first Indian gymnast to win a medal in the Commonwealth Games but failed to repeat his feat. Ashish, who had finished sixth in the floor event final yesterday, ended his campaign on a faulty note after he failed to land on his feet in his second vault. He scored a decent 14.333 in his first vault but landed flat on the mat on his back instead of the feet while trying for a somersault in the air. Due to the ugly land, Ashish got zero point from his second vault and accumulated 7.166 on the average to finish last in the 10-man field. The average of the two vault is taken as the final score. Canada`s Scott Morgan won the gold with an average score of 14.733 while Kristian Thomas of England and Toon Wah Hoe of Singapore bagged the silver and bronze with 14.499 and 14.195 points respectively. Ashish later said that he could not adjust to the slow springboard which has been used in the Games while he had done training in India on a faster one. "I trained in India on an old springboard which was used in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. Since it was old, the springboard I have been training in India throws the body faster. The springboard used here is slow as it is a new one. So I could not adjust to the springboard used here as it has become a habit of training at a faster one in India," he told PTI. "Since the springboard (here) throws the body slowly, I could not get the necessary height in the air after pressing (the hand) on the vault. Due to that there was no somersault on the air and I fell flat on my back. "It is disappointing as I have trained hard for the Games." Asked about his floor event performance, he said, "In the floor event, I lost balance while landing and my hand touched the floor and penalty point was docked on me."