Gymnast Pranati Nayak has earned the bragging rights being the only Indian to have won two medals at the Asian Gymnastics. And that she believes will inspire her to go for greater glory at the Commonwealth Games (CWG), which begin in Birmingham on July 28.
In women’s vault at the Asian Championships in Doha last month, Pranati bagged a bronze. This was her second medal at the Asian meet, following her bronze in the 2019 edition in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
“Yes, of course, now I have extra motivation to strive for a medal at the CWG,” Pranati told The Telegraph from New Delhi.
“Prior to the Olympics, I barely had time to prepare with one-and-a-half years of lockdown and disruptions preceding it.
“Gymnastics is a sport — as I’m sure many others are — where the body takes time to adapt, to return to its original flexible state. My body was far from ready at the hurriedly-prepared Tokyo Games. So my below-par performance was a disappointment, but not a surprise. I delivered a mere 20 per cent of my capacity there.”
Pranati is now happy with her body. Her weight has gone down from 48-49 kgs to 44. Her flexibility has returned and with it her confidence.
CWG beckoning, Pranati did not waste a minute and plunged into practice (at the India camp in New Delhi) the very day after her return from Doha. Now it is 6 to 7 hours of rigorous practice every day till she leaves for Birmingham on July 25.
She deviates to talk about the help she received from SportsApp, a start-up which provides free of cost training and help from nutritionists and physiotherapists.
The app, she says, gave her a lot of support after the Olympic setback and is doing a good job bringing expertise to budding sportspersons in the rural areas.
Pranati, however, will not let medal thoughts distract her at the CWG.
“The competition will be tough. But I will give my all. When I practice, I don’t let the thought of a medal distract me, because that tends to put me under undue pressure.
“A medal would certainly make me happy, but I’d be happier if I can put up a show which is better than my best so far,” said the 27-year old.
The other two Indians to have clinched medals (both bronze) at the Asian gymnastics are Ashish Kumar (men’s floor) in 2006 in Surat and Olympian Dipa Karmakar (women’s vault) in 2015 in Hiroshima.
With two medals at Asian Gymnastics, how does it feel to have bettered the record of her idol Dipa?
Pat comes the reply: “There is no question of going one-up on Dipa didi, who is, and will remain, my idol.
“She is the one who single-handedly put India on the global gymnastics map with her performance at the Rio Olympics. She is the one who has inspired countless in the country to take to gymnastics.”
