India’s Only Gymnast at Tokyo Olympics – Pranati Nayak

Pranati Nayak’s name has been in media headlines ever since it was announced that she is the second-ever Indian gymnast able to qualify for the Olympics. There were rumours about Pranati Nayak having a sniff at the Olympics for a week but there was no clarity behind this. A clearer picture emerged when the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships that serves as the qualification event for the Tokyo Olympics was called off because of Covid. There was no official announcement by the International Gymnastics Federation but despite everything Pranati Nayak will make it to Tokyo. This is how Pranati Nayak ended up being selected and her life journey!

Also Read: Tokyo Olympics: List of Indians Participants

Tokyo Olympics 

A total of 12 Indian athletes have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics so far. In 2016, 117 Indian athletes had qualified for  Rio Olympics. Not all couldn’t match up to the medals haul from the 2012 London Games, which remains India’s highest medal tally at a single Olympic Games – six medals. We are quite hopeful that the threshold could be crossed in Tokyo with quite a few Indian athletes topping the world ranking charts.

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Early Life of Pranati Nayak

Pranati Nayak comes from a very humble background and is from Jhargram, West Bengal. Her father worked as a bus driver until 2017 to run the family and her mother is a housewife. It was very hard for the Nayak family to make money, this did not prevent the family from letting the youngster chase her dream.

Pranati took up gymnastics as a 9-year-old and then shifted to Kolkata on her school coach’s recommendation. It was in Kolkata that she learned more about the sport. She found her coach and guide, Minara Begum who has managed all the financial needs of Pranati and mentored her. Minara Begum took care of everything right from her stay in Kolkata to all her miscellaneous expenses.

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The Journey to Success

Pranati Nayak rose to the top under Minara Begum’s mentoring. Through her consistent performances, she secured a job at the Indian Railways. It was the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2019 that changed the course of her life. She gained national recognition by the bronze medal that she earned in Mongolia.

This bronze medal later paved her way to the Tokyo Olympics. Thus, becoming the second-ever Indian to be representing India at the Tokyo Olympics.

“I was very disappointed when I couldn’t achieve the qualifying score during the 2019 World Championship and with the pandemic cancelling all events, I never imagined that I will be able to realize this dream of going to the Olympics,” said Pranati in an interview with The Hindu.

Pranati Nayak Tokyo Olympics Updates

Pranati Nayak was not able to qualify the top 24 list of gymnast rounds. She was unable to make it to any of the five artistic gymnastics events.

So, this was all about India’s Only Gymnast at Tokyo Olympics, Pranati Nayak. Hope you found this to be informative and insightful. For more such content stay connected with Leverage Edu!