Bangladesh's Quazi Syque Caesar balances on the bars during the Parallel Bar event of the Sultana Kamal 4th Central South Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships at the Shaheed Suhrawardi Indoor Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.Photo: STAR

Quazi Syque Caesar finally gave hosts Bangladesh something to brag about in the Sultana Kamal 4th Central South Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships when the US-born Bangladeshi gymnast won gold medal in his favourite Parallel Bar on the concluding day at the Shaheed Suhrawardi Indoor Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
Syque put Uzbekistan's Ruslan Irgashev and India's Devesh Kumar behind to win the gold with a score of 14.60 as Ruslan and Devesh notched up 13.85 and 13.72 points respectively to claim silver and bronze.
It is not only the first international gold medal for Syque but also Bangladesh in international gymnastics. Bangladesh's lone medal thus far came in the form of a bronze, won by Amir Ali in the inaugural edition of the championships in 1995.
All of Bangladesh's hopes centred around US-born Syque, but he hardly got any support from his teammates in the team event before he won a bronze medal in All Around event after a fierce battle with India's Ashish Kumar and Uzbekistan's Daulet Narmetove on Thursday.
However, the 21-year old eclipsed that feat in the concluding day as he won his favourite Parallel Bar event and came close to winning another gold in the Vault event. But, he narrowly missed it with a faulty landing and had to be content with a silver medal with a score of 14.25 points. India's Ashish Kumar won the gold scoring 14.81 points.
Syque also won a bronze medal in the Floor event with a score of 13.52 where India's Ashish and Uzbekistan's Otabek Masharipov won the gold and silver with scores of 14.82 and 13.87 respectively.
“I am happy to win my first international gold medal in Parallel Bar. It is also pleasing to win a gold medal on home soil. Now I want to represent Bangladesh in the World Gymnastics Championship and want to win a medal for Bangladesh outside the country,” said US-born Syque.
“I should have won another gold medal but I failed to balance myself properly when I landed in the Vault and that landing deprived me of the gold,” said a disappointed Syque.
Apart from Syque's three medals on the final day, there was another bronze medal won by the local participants and it came courtesy of female gymnast Sathi Akhter who scored 11.01 points to finish third in Vault as Indian duo Dipa Karmakar and Meenakshi won gold and silver respectively.
On the final day, 10 gold medals (male and female) were decided with India's Ashish Kumar winning three gold of them in Floor, Vault and High Bar while Uzbekistan's Daulet Narmotov and Ruslan Irgastev won Pommel Horse and Steel Ring gold respectively.
In the women's section, Uzbekistan's Asal Saparbaeva won two gold in Floor and Balancing Bar while her teammate Diana Karimdjanova won gold in Uneven Bar. India's Dipa won gold in Vault.
Ashish became the best male gymnast with four gold to his name while Uzbekistan's Asal won three gold to become best female gymnast of the meet.