Gymnastics: Pranati Nayak eyes 'Tsukahara 720' vault in World Championships

Pranati Nayak has a little regret. There was no rush of people in village Pingla after she reached her home with the bronze medal (from the vault event) at the recently-concluded Asian Gymnastics Championships in Mongolia. Pranati recalled the 2018 Asian Games where she finished at the eight position in the vault event. Still, after returning to her home Pranati witnessed the tide, almost all the villagers coming home to take her autograph. Speaking to The Bridge over phone on Sunday morning, the 24-year old gymnast said, “It is not that I am upset. I feel the villagers were not aware of the Asian Championships and my medal-winning performance. Otherwise they would have surely been here to congratulate me.” Pranati informed she will be coming to SAI Kolkata this week and would resume training from the very next day.

The gymnast executed Tsukahara 360 degree vault on the way to scoring total 13.384 points but did not open up her real card. That is Tsukahara 720 degree vault - which is spinning 720 degree on the air and then landing on the floor.

Image : Gymnastics Federation of India

Focus now on Tsukahara 720 degree vault

“I have to execute 720 degree Tsukahara vault in the World Championship, to be held in Stuttgart in Germany later this year World Championship which is an Olympics qualification tournament. Tsukahara 720 degree vault has more points if it can be executed properly," Pranati explained. Along with vault event, each gymnast will also have to score 50 points in the other three apparatus also. Pranati added, “If we had an experienced choreographer, we would have scored better in the artistic floor gymnastics. We have appealed to the higher authority several times. I hope the Federation and SAI will consider it before the World Championships.” Pranati had a lot of admiration for Dipa Karmakar who inspired her, and called couple of hours before her event in Mongolia and offered valuable tips.  “After I won the bronze medal - Dipa (Di) and her coach Bisweswar Nandi called me to congratulate me," she said. Simultaneously Pranati mentioned her childhood coach Minara Begum’s name repeatedly. She said, “I would not have been here talking to you if I had not Minara (Madam) in my life since my childhood. I was only 9 years old when she started taking care of me.”  Minara Begum who travelled with her student to Mongolia was naturally happy for Pranati’s success. When contacted, she said, “Ashish Kumar and Dipa Karmakar had shown the way that nothing is impossible. Today Pranati is also able to walk in that road. I must say we have been preparing for this international success of hers for a long time. I was able to inject the belief into her and she did it.” Minara Begum has plans to make request to the Federation and SAI bosses to organize a couple of competitions abroad before the World Championship. She added, “Gymnastics is such a sport where participating in competitions helps athlete a lot. From that perspective, I have plans to request the Federation and SAI so that one or two competitions in foreign countries can be organized for the national campers who will be selected to take part in the World Championship.”