Odisha gymnast Rakesh Patra, coach Ashok Mishra in team for Asian Games

Odisha Sun Times Sports Bureau
Cuttack, Sept 8:

Promising gymnast of Odisha Rakesh Patra and Ashok Kumar Mishra, coach of men’s artistic gymnastics of the state, would participate in the XVII Asian Games at Incheon in South Korea to be held from September 19 to October 4.

The Indian Gymnastics team will leave for Incheon on September 16.

The 22-year-old Patra, a native of Puri district, has so far won 11 medals in international events, including 4 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze in the 32^nd, 33^rd and 34^th Tulit Peter International Gymnastics Championship in Hungary in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and Commonwealth Gymnastics Championship at Glasgow in Scotland in 2014.

Besides, he had also stood fifth in the 11^th Asian Junior Gymnastics Championship at Tokyo in Japan and eighth in the 3^rd ART Gymnastics FIG World Cup at Doha in Qatar held in March 2010.

This apart, Patra has won 66 medals in national events, which include 23 gold, 31 silver and 14 bronze.

Senior gymnastics coach (Grade-1) of Odisha Ashok Kumar Mishra, has led the Indian team as the coach in several international events including World Championship (London,2009), World Cup (Paris, 2010), World Cup (Belgium, 2010), World Cup (Moscow, 2010), Commonwealth Games (Delhi, 2010), Asian Games, (Guangzhou, 2010), World Championship (Tokyo, 2011), Commonwealth Championship (Scotland, 2014) and Tulit Peter Competition (Budapest in Hungary, 2005 And 2006).

The Indian team, under his coaching, has so far won 6 gold, 5 silver and 6 bronze medals in international competitions while gymnasts have won 68 gold, 52 silver and 79 bronze medals and national events under his tutelage in national events.

Apart from Patra, Mishra has also coached several other players, including Ashish Kumar (Commonwealth Games and Asian Games medalist), Alok Ranjan (World Cup finalist), Partha Mondal (World Cup finalist) and Mayank Srivastav, Aditya Rana, Vivek Mishra and Siddhartha Verma (Junior Asian finalists).