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Asian Games: Gymnast Pranati Nayak eyes Paris Olympics via Hangzhou
India’s lone gymnast is targetting a good performance in her favourite vault event, but the big picture is to go into the Olympic qualifying events in good form
Around the time the Asian Games ceremony got off to a rousing start at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre, Pranati Nayak was busy defying gravity in the quiet of the practice hall. The 28-year-old is the only Indian gymnast here, in a contingent of 655 athletes, but that has done little to dampen her spirits. In fact, she has already set her sights on the bigger prize: next year's Paris Olympics.
“Asian Games is huge, but the sad part is that it doesn’t offer Olympic qualification. We will give our best, but the larger picture is qualifying for the Paris Games,” Nayak’s coach Ashok Kumar Mishra said. For that, she will have to participate in at least three of the four 2024 World Cup Series, to be held between January and March next year.
Scores from the best three performances will be taken into account to award qualification spots, Mishra said. The World Cup series will offer two quotas per gender for each apparatus. The qualifying process began in October, 2022. The World Championships in 2022 and 2023 were the major competitions that helped find most of the 192 artistic gymnastics – 96 men and women each – who will compete in the French capital next year.
“We want to go to the Olympics and the Asian Games provides us a perfect springboard in terms of preparation and confidence. We expect tough competition from the likes of China and Japan. Even South Korea and Vietnam are good,” said Mishra.
Landing challenge
Nayak enters her third successive Asian Games on the back of a bronze medal at the FIG World Challenge Cup in Szombathely, Hungary where she edged out compatriot Dipa Karmakar in the qualification round. “She is in a great frame of mind and is very confident of winning a medal here. Success in the Hungary event has given her a lot of belief. Having only one gymnast in a contingent of 655 is a matter of great sadness for both of us but we want to win a medal for the gymnastics community back home,” the coach added.
Nayak will compete in the all-round competition involving four apparatus and is expected to qualify for the final of vault, her favourite event.
“The preparation has been good,” she said. “I am completely injury-free and my body is feeling good. My big focus area will be on landing because a wobbly landing can easily lead to a points deduction,” Nayak, who has recently recovered from a ligament tear in her right shoulder, said.
She is only the second Indian woman gymnast to take part in an Olympics, Dipa Karmakar being the other.
“It (landing) is always a tricky area. We are trying to perfect a ‘fixed’ landing. Even if the vault is not very high on the difficulty score (D-Score), a perfect landing can win you many points. Conversely, all efforts of a tough vault can go in vain if the landing is not good. So, our sessions here are mostly concentrated on the landing," Mishra said.
Nayak is also entered in the all-round category but the focus, Mishra insisted, will be the vault. In a repeat of her Hungary routines, she will perform the Tsukahara backward 360 and Forward Handspring 360 vaults in the qualification and will step up to Tsukahara 720 in the final, if she makes it to the medal round.
“Tsukahara 360 is a backward flip with a single rotation of the body. It fetches a lot of points if the landing is smooth and doesn’t put too much pressure on the ankles and knees. If she qualifies for the final, we will go all out and perform a much tougher Tsukahara 720 that involves two full-body rotations. It is a tricky vault that carries a lot of points.”
Nayak, who had a practice session planned on Sunday morning as well, skipped the Asian Games opening ceremony. The women’s artistic gymnastics qualification will be held on Monday and the final is scheduled on September 28.
