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.
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“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.
Tough preparation
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.
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“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.
