Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s pride and India’s star gymnast Pranati Nayak added another feather to her cap by winning a bronze medal in the vault final at the 12th Senior Women’s Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships held in Jecheon, South Korea, on Saturday.
Pranati, who trains at the Odisha AM/NS India Gymnastics High-Performance Centre, scored 13.466 points in the final, securing the third spot behind China’s Yihan Zhang (gold, 13.650) and Vietnam’s Thi Quynh Nhu Nguyen (silver, 13.583).
Another Indian gymnast, Protistha Samanta, delivered a commendable performance but narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth with a score of 13.016.
This bronze medal marks Pranati’s third podium finish at the Asian Championships, making her the most decorated Indian gymnast in this continental tournament. She had earlier claimed bronze in the vault event at Ulaanbaatar in 2019 and Doha in 2022. With this latest success, she surpasses Dipa Karmakar, who had won two Asian medals — a bronze in Hiroshima in 2015 and a gold in Tashkent in 2023.
Pranati’s final routine included a powerful first vault scoring 13.666, but a slightly lower second attempt of 12.866 brought her average down. Nevertheless, it was enough to earn her a well-deserved spot on the podium.
Hailing from Jhargram, West Bengal, but representing Odisha in national competitions, the 30-year-old Olympian has become a symbol of consistency and excellence in Indian gymnastics. Earlier this year, she also clinched a bronze at the FIG World Cup in Antalya, Turkey.
