Pranati Nayak Clinches Bronze in Gymnastics
Pranati Nayak, a two-time Asian Championships bronze medalist, secured a third-place finish at the World Challenge Cup gymnastics event in Szombathely, Hungary, as she readies herself for the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games.
In the vault final, Nayak earned a score of 12.966 points, putting her in a tie for third place. She was behind Hungary’s Greta Mayer, who scored 13.149 points, and the Czech Republic’s Alice Vlkova, who scored 12.999 points. In a tie-break, Nayak managed to outperform Greece’s Athanasia Mesiri, who also scored 12.966 points, with Nayak achieving 13.066 points to Mesiri’s 13.000 points.
Nayak executed a backward Tsukahara 720 and a forward tuck handspring 360, with her first vault earning her 13.066 points and her second vault earning 12.866 points. The final score is an average of these two scores.
Among the Indian women competing on Saturday, Nayak was the only one in action, as Dipa Karmakar failed to qualify for the eight-woman final. The competition was intense, with only 0.233 points separating the second-placed Vlkova from the eighth-placed Georgian athlete Dorien Motten, who scored 12.766 points. The difference in scores between the winner, Mayer, and Motten was 0.383 points.
National coach Ashok Mishra expressed his satisfaction with the final and noted that it would boost Nayak’s confidence for the Asian Games. He added, “We have about ten days to finetune our preparations for the Asian Games; we will go for more difficult vaults in Hangzhou.”
Nayak has made a remarkable recovery from a ligament tear in her right shoulder and intends to further enhance her forward handspring 540 routine as she gears up for the Asian Games.
Re-reported from the article originally published in Hindustan Times
