Yogeshwar makes cut; Tamboli, Mondal ousted

BIRMINGHAM: Yogeshwar Singh was the lone Indian male gymnast to qualify for the all-around final after his teammates Saif Tamboli and Satyajit Mondal narrowly missed out in the Commonwealth Games here.

The 25-year-old Haryana gymnast, who has participated in three World Championships, overcame some stiff competition to finish at the 16th place with an overall score of 73.600.

In vault and floor events, Singh had a fall each as the score of his pummell scissor hand stand was not counted which would have improved his position.

"But it's past now. We now have to focus on the final (August 2)," Indian coach Ashok Mishra told PTI on Friday.

He held his nerves and had a score of 73.660 points en route to the 18-member final which will take place on August 2.

Navy man Saif Tamboli and Satyajit Mondal, an upcoming gymnast from Bengal, narrowly missed out to make the final round, finishing ninth each in the parallel bar and vault.

"It's great to work with my team-mates, it's really useful for me and we help each other to do better. We were always focused on getting to a final so hopefully we can," Yogeshwar said here.

"It has been amazing, the fans have been amazing. We have been training so hard and even though I was the only one competing in the all-around my two team-mates did so well."

Yogeshwar further said their focus is just to improve the scores individually.

"I just hope to perform better every time. We have been working on our individual scores and the execution of techniques that has been our focus," he said.