Latest news with #PranatiNayak
Hindustan Times
27-07-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
How gymnast Pranati battles injuries to find success
New Delhi: Pranati Nayak breaks into a big smile at the mention of the Asian Championships. Last month in the South Korean city of Jecheon, the seasoned Indian gymnast earned a well-deserved women's vault bronze, her third in the continental event after Ulaanbaatar 2019 and Doha 2022. In March, she had also clinched the same metal at the World Cup in Antalya. Pranati Nayak earned a women's vault bronze at the Asian Championships at Jecheon, South Korea last month. (Getty Images) But all this success has come at a cost. In a sport where athletes start and retire pretty early, Pranati continues to deliver at well over 30, which means her recovery takes time, especially in recent times as her body is afflicted with multiple injuries. 'I have injuries in my right elbow and both the ankles. I have a tennis elbow because of which it pains a lot. Despite being right-handed, I don't do anything with my right hand. From filling bottles to drinking water, I do everything with my left hand. I use my right hand only during training and give it rest for the rest of the time,' Pranati told HT over a video call from Bhubaneswar. 'I have had chronic pain in my right ankle for over two years now. I regularly do rehab but as soon as I participate in a competition, the load and consequently the pain increases. After competition, I take a week's rest. Then I start again. This is how I manage my competitions and training.' It has become a norm for Pranati to meet doctors, physios and undergo scans on a regular basis. Unlike her younger days, the diminutive gymnast now takes at least a week to recover after a competition. It is understandable given the load her ankles take. Pranati, who mainly attempts the 720 Tsukahara vault these days, makes 15 landings even before competition starts. The number can go up if the landings are not perfect. Also, these landings are on hard mats as they are done on competition podiums unlike in training where she lands in a mud pit. 'We mostly train in the pit. That way, we can save our feet and ankles. It's a softer landing, meaning we can take more repetitions. The landing mat is very hard. My ankle swells up each time after competition. It also happens when I travel. When I sit, my feet don't reach the floor. It just hangs in the air. That also leads to swelling,' said the Olympian, who is only 4 feet and 9 inches tall. But Pranati has taken injuries in her stride and accepted the fact that her body will not get younger and that she has to manage it. Unlike back in the day when a massage, steam or ice bath would decrease the pain, she is coping with how to handle her pain. 'I have to move forward with this. I am used to it now. My only concern is how to recover and train well. For that I have to maintain my weight, make sure there are no additional injuries,' said the gymnast from Bengal. Having clinched the bronze at the Asian Championships, Pranati is eyeing further glory as she will next take part in the FIG World Challenge Cup in Paris and Szombathely (both in September) followed by the Jakarta World Championships in October. Next year, the World Cup series starts in February as she has firmly set her target at the Commonwealth Games followed by the Asian Games. While Indian gymnasts have won multiple medals at the Asian Championships, they have not been able to replicate the success at the Asian Games where India have won only one medal till date — Ashish Kumar's bronze in men's floor exercise in Guangzhou 2010. If she qualifies, Aichi-Nagoya 2026 will be her fourth Asian Games. 'If we can win a medal in Asian Championships, we can also at Asian Games. The same gymnasts participate in both. There is no difference. If I give my best, there can be a good chance of winning a medal. I have to get more points. This is my goal,' said Pranati, who last month was added to the sports ministry's Target Asian Games Group (TAGG) scheme.
Indian Express
21-07-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
After three podium finishes at continental level, gymnast Pranati Nayak braces for Chinese challenge on vault ahead of Asian Games
She has a hat-trick of bronze medals on the vault at the Asian Gymnastics Championships, but it's the elusive gold that keeps Pranati Nayak pushing through pain, living a monkish, solitary existence with no social life in Bhubaneswar. She also has to make do with eating measured morsels to keep her weight down, so she can push through an extra half of a rotation, and do a 720 Tsukahara, rather than a 540. 'And now the Chinese have started showing up in vault which they didn't earlier,' Pranati says in mock apocalyptic tones, laughing at her luck, a month after returning from Jecheon, South Korea, with a third bronze, after Ulaanbaatar 2019 and Doha 2022. It was much before her qualification stumble at the continental championships when her three oversteppings cost her a penalty that she gleaned the competition and noticed her nemesis – the Chinese. The global powerhouse in gymnastics aces the Floor exercise, uneven bars and balance beam, but have made headway into Vault at the Asian level, a novelty for Pranati who admits to being deflated at the literal leaps-and-bounds progress of the Chinese vaulters, who have not won a women's vault medal at the Olympics since their bronze at Beijing 2008. Sure enough, Paris Olympian Zhang Yinan took gold at Jecheon with 13.650 on the vault, closely followed by Nguyn Thi Quyhn Nhur with 13.583. Pranati averaged 13.466. 'It was tough to digest. I didn't think Chinese vaulters would be a challenge, so I will have to prepare for that before the Asian Games. In qualification when I was 4th, there was the (Uzbek, 48-year- old) legend Oksana Chusovitina, and the Vietnamese. But the Chinese had me worried,' she says. 'Qualifying was not great, I was scared.' Attempting the Tsukahara 540 (Difficulty 5.2, like the Chinese and Vietnamese), Pranati stuttered with three oversteps and copped a penalty. 'We train on Gymnova brand apparatus. There it was Tyson, a different make of springboard. With my ankle injury, take-off on this brand was a disaster,' she explains, not as an excuse, but stating her inability on a lift-off, where she didn't gain the spring for elevation and rotations, affecting her landing. In the finals, she had 13.666 on her first vault with Difficulty 5.2 (scoring 8.466 on Execution) and in the second, a handspring. Though her D-Score of 4.4 was higher than everyone, her 12.866 (highest and equalising Chinese score, with execution at 8.466), could not push her beyond bronze. 'Gold and silver were there for the taking but I couldn't stick a clean landing. One step I ended forward and couldn't go past 14.000,' the 30-year-old rued. While she already has a World Cup bronze from Antalya this year, and is headed to another World Cup series in September, the training-competition balance has had to be carefully managed at her Bhubaneswar base. 'The ankle injury from two years ago is not big. But I have to manage it. It's one week of rest and strengthening and one week of vault training,' she explains, adding that she also has to undergo a bunch of ultrasound examinations for elbow and ankle issues. Thanks to her funding from Welspun, she can access the best medical facilities at a top hospital in Odisha and a curated diet, but Pranati is aware of the challenge. 'At 30, recovery is not easy. I'm maintaining a very strict diet, measuring food, so I can be fit to give optimum results,' she says. All junk has been out of the picture and mildly salted dry fruits are her only indulgence. 'The machines are expensive so that funding helps,' she says, as does the guidance of Ashok Mishra. While she remains India's best-performing gymnast currently, ensuring her personal coach travels (he didn't to Korea) requires funds beyond her TOPS allocation. Being in the well-kitted-out facility means Pranati can access the ABTP (Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance) facility on campus, a huge help. 'But it's ice baths in the room and 2/3 rehab sessions at ABTP,' she says. The Shockwave therapy for muscle pain is a huge addition she has availed, but getting the peak fitness/form/ confidence and pushing technique barriers needs everything coming together. With the Chinese targeting the vault, Pranati literally has to raise her ambitions on higher Difficulty vaults with an eye on the Asian Games.
The Hindu
23-06-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Tejaswin Shankar, Animesh Kujur enter TOPS developmental group; Pranati Nayak named for TAGG
Asian Championships silver-winning decathlete Tejaswin Shankar, fast-rising sprinter Animesh Kujur and the women's 4x100m relay team were included in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme's (TOPS) developmental group, while gymnast Pranati Nayak was added to the Target Asian Games Group (TAGG) in the latest round of evaluation by the Sports Ministry. The 26-year-old Tejaswin, who is mostly based in the USA, became the first Indian to win two decathlon medals in the Asian Championships by upgrading his bronze from the previous edition to a silver this time in Gumi, South Korea last month. The 22-year-old Kujur, on the other hand, claimed a bronze medal in the men's 200m event with a national record time of 20.32 seconds. This was his first medal at an international event. The athletes included in the TOPS developmental group are entitled to a monthly allowance of Rs 25,000 and are considered long-term medal prospects. Also making the developmental list was the quartet of 4x100m quartet of Abinaya Rajarajan, Sneha Shanuvalli, Nithya Gandhe and Srabani Nanda. They won a silver medal in the event at the Asian meet. High jumper Pooja (gold, 1.89m PB), Servin Sebastian (race walking), Vithya Ramaraj (hurdles), Sachin Yadav (javelin throw), Yoonus Shah (middle-distance) were the other good performers from the Asian event to make the group after a recent meeting of the ministry's Mission Olympic Cell (MOC). ALSO READ | Neeraj Chopra has eyes set on Tokyo World Championship after breaching 90-metre mark Javelin superstar Neeraj Chopra, steeplechaser Avinash Sable and long jumper M Sreeshankar are the only track and field names in the core group that was slashed to 94 from 179 at the beginning of the year following the end of an Olympic cycle. The pruned core list features only 42 able-bodied athletes. Gymnasts Pranati Nayak and Protishtha Samanta (vault) have been added to the Target Asian Games Group (TAGG). Nayak won a bronze medal in the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jecheon, South Korea earlier this month. This was her third bronze at the continental event after third-place finishes in Ulaanbaatar (2019) and Doha (2022). TOPS CEO NS Johal, Olympic medallist Gagan Narang, Pullela Gopichand (Vice-president, Badminton Association of India), Viren Rasquinha (Olympic Gold Quest), Aparna Popat, Dronacharya awardee para coach Dr. Satyapal Singh, and Arjuna awardee Prashanti Singh are among the members of the MOC. Rs 11.90 lakh have been approved for archers Parneet Kaur, Priyansh and Jyothi Surekha Vennam for purchase of equipment as part of their preparations for the Los Angeles Olympics 2028. All three of them are part of the TOPS core group.
News18
23-06-2025
- Sport
- News18
Tejaswin Shankar, Animesh Kujur Make TOPS List, Pranati Nayak Included In TAGG
Last Updated: Athletes under the TOPS scheme are permitted a monthly allowance of Rs 25,000 and are considered medal prospects at international events. India decathlete Tejaswin Shankar, sprinter Animesh Kujur and the women's 4x100m relay team were added to the Target Olympic Podium Scheme's developmental group, while gymnast Pranati Nayak was included in the Target Asian Games Group by the Sports Ministry on Monday. Athletes under the TOPS scheme are permitted a monthly allowance of Rs 25,000 and are considered medal prospects at international events. Shankar, the 26-year-old primarily based in the USA, became the first Indian to win two decathlon medals at the Asian Championships. He upgraded his previous bronze to a silver last month in Gumi, South Korea. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Amlan Borgohain secured a bronze medal in the men's 200m event with a national record time of 20.32 seconds. This marked his first international medal. The women's 4x100m relay team, comprising Abinaya Rajarajan, Sneha Shanuvalli, Nithya Gandhe, and Srabani Nanda, also made the developmental list after winning a silver medal at the Asian meet. Other notable performers from the Asian event who were included in the group after a recent meeting of the ministry's Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) include high jumper Pooja (gold, 1.89m PB), Servin Sebastian (race walking), Vithya Ramaraj (hurdles), Sachin Yadav (javelin throw), and Yoonus Shah (middle-distance). The core group, reduced from 179 to 94 names following the end of an Olympic cycle, now includes only 42 able-bodied athletes. Among them are javelin superstar Neeraj Chopra, steeplechaser Avinash Sable, and long jumper M Sreeshankar. Gymnasts Pranati Nayak and Protishtha Samanta (vault) have been added to the Target Asian Games Group (TAGG). Nayak recently won a bronze medal at the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jecheon, South Korea. This was her third bronze at the continental event, following previous wins in Ulaanbaatar (2019) and Doha (2022). The MOC includes members such as TOPS CEO NS Johal, Olympic medallist Gagan Narang, Pullela Gopichand (Vice-president, Badminton Association of India), Viren Rasquinha (Olympic Gold Quest), Aparna Popat, Dronacharya awardee para coach Dr. Satyapal Singh, and Arjuna awardee Prashanti Singh. An amount of Rs 11.90 lakh has been approved for archers Parneet Kaur, Priyansh, and Jyothi Surekha Vennam to purchase equipment as part of their preparations for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. All three are part of the TOPS core group. Deputy Director of the Bengaluru SAI centre, Sathishkumar S, has been awarded the prestigious Chevening Scholarship by the UK Government for the 2025–26 academic year. He will pursue a Master's degree in Sports Management, Politics, and International Development at Loughborough University. Sathishkumar joined SAI in 2017 and has been involved in over 10 editions of the Khelo India Games. He was deputed as an official observer for India at the Paris Olympics and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. (With Inputs From PTI) First Published: June 23, 2025, 17:02 IST
The Hindu
14-06-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Asian championships: Gymnast Pranati Nayak wins vault bronze
Pranati Nayak clinched her third bronze medal in women's vault at the Asian artistic gymnastics championships in Jecheon, Korea, on Saturday (June 14, 2025). The 30-year-old scored 13.666 and 12.866 in her two attempts to log a total of 13.466 and secure a bronze behind China's Zhang Yihan (13.650) and Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Quynh Nhu (13.583). Earlier, she had medalled in 2019 and 2022. Another Indian, Protistha Samanta, finished fourth with 13.016. Pranati had scored 13.086 to place fourth, while Protistha had recorded 12.716 to take the eighth spot in the qualifying stage. Meanwhile, in the junior women's category, Avantika Negi (10.333) became the first Indian to qualify for the uneven bars final.
