Tokyo Olympics: India pins hopes on gymnast Pranati Nayak

In the Japanese capital, it will be Pranati Nayak who will be the country’s flag-bearer as she attempts to go the distance and bring home the medal that India so keenly awaited from her idol, Dipa Karmakar.

Indian gymnast Pranati Nayak will be in action at the Tokyo Olympics.

This could be hotly contested, but the fact that gymnastics in India is yet to get to the big league remains a perennial truth, what with only a few thousand still pursuing this sport – which calls for innovation, sublime skills and absolute balance – in right earnest in the whole of the country.

Yet, one among them will be seen in action at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, in a big boost to Indian gymnastics, whose star Dipa Karmakar got to fourth place in the vault at the 2016 Rio Games, a faulty dismount off her second attempt spoiling the Tripura girl’s quest for a place on the podium.

In the Japanese capital, it will be Pranati Nayak who will be the country’s flag-bearer as she attempts to go the distance and bring home the medal that India so keenly awaited from her idol, Dipa. The 26-year-old Nayak will be initially seen competing through the various rotations in the women’s all-round, which will result in the competitors who will progress into the final rounds of the various apparatuses.

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Hailing from a village in Midnapore, the Bengal girl, the third and youngest daughter of a bus driver, had to run from pillar to post to get a chance to train at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Kolkata as Nayak, without being even given a chance to perform, was outrightly dismissed from the trials as too weak and frail to take up the sport seriously. It was only the timely intervention of SAI coach Minara Begum that stopped her from returning home in despair.

Begum is what you could call a messiah as she not only took Nayak under her wings but also paid for the costs involved – getting leotards, food and educational expenses – out of her salary and helping the young gymnast to continue training. Nayak came to the limelight for the first time, winning a bronze in the vault at the 2019 Asian championships. But with the COVID-19 pandemic spreading its tentacles and competitions getting postponed, it was again a time of despair for the Bengal girl.

So, it came as a surprise when she was finally selected for one of the two last quota places from Asia to get to Tokyo, where she should be within a chance of getting to the final of the vault, wherein she has the talent to surprise one and all.