Double World Cup vault medall gymnast Pranati Nayak still struggling to emerge from Dipa Karmakar’s shadow | Sport-others News

It’s a perception that overwhelmed gymnast Pranati Nayak – the 29-year-old vaulter – and silently gnawed at her confidence, before she seemed to have resolved it in her mind this year.Pranati – without naming Dipa Karmakar ever – is always at pains to convince the world that she is a competent gymnast in her own right, though since both specialise in the same event, Indians expect her to fill the big shoes of the Rio Olympics fourth-place finisher, who is now retired.
However, there is no question of comparing the two, both of whom have battled their own challenges. Pranati qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, but faded out with a sub-par performance. It brought her jibes from her fraternity, and reduced her to a loner who hid her tears even from her parents.
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Double World Cup vault medall gymnast Pranati Nayak. (Special arrangement)
Pranati wakes up each morning, and goes about her training, having shifted base from Kolkata to Bhubaneswar, where she has no friends or comfort of familiarity. But there is a high performance centre, kitted with the best facilities and expertise at the Kalinga Stadium, that has given her gymnastics a new lease of life, after she couldn’t qualify for the Paris Games.
A fortnight ago, Pranati scored 13.417 on the vault in the FIG Artic Gymnastics Apparatus World Cup 2025 in Antalya, Turkey, to win her second World Cup medal after a bronze at Cairo last year. She was second behind Americans Yayla Hang (13.667) and Claire Pease (13.567). She bettered her qualification score of 13.317 – a tiny but important step of progress in her career.
Indian women now have five World Cup medals on the vault (Dipa – gold at Mersin and bronze at Cottbus, plus bronze for Aruna Reddy at Melbourne), but without a high-difficulty vault in her armour, Pranati is inevitably compared with Dipa, just like any other gymnast who runs in the latter’s footsteps.
The Tsukahara 720 vault that Pranati attempted and competently executed in Turkey, has a difficulty value of 5.2. The Produnova, even if downgraded, is at a massive 6.0. Pranati’s fragile and carefully managed fitness affords her a second vault, a Front Handspring 360 with a D score of 4.2, making it difficult for her to make forays into Olympic or World Championship finals.Story continues below this ad
Quite simply, even as Pranati’s own execution is getting better each day, and she’s managing good landings – doing the best within her limitations – the buzz around her medals is minimal. It didn’t help that her Tokyo scores were asmal.
“It’s difficult to explain technical things to people, and sometimes I don’t want to revisit the criticism thrown at me unnecessarily. Tokyo came out of barely 3-4 months of lockdown training during Covid. I’ve had persent ankle injuries and unbearable pain but I love the sport so I keep pushing on, managing my training load. But I am not like other gymnasts, so expectations are off….” she trails off, not wanting to elaborate.
Forget Paris
From Tokyo to not making it to Paris, Pranati went through some tough times. “I used to cry alone in a room locking myself in, because of criticism over my Tokyo score. But my dad and mom have been my biggest support. They would know I’ve been crying and keep calling me and talk about random things back home. Competition results didn’t matter to them,” she recalls. “At one point, my dad asked, tune life mein kab haar maani hai? (When have you ever given up?) So I told myself main toot nahi sakti. (I can’t go to pieces).”
Pranati, who comes from Jhargram in West Bengal, came to prominence with an Asian meet bronze in 2019. Her gymnastics and the sports quota railways job at Howrah have been important for her family.Story continues below this ad
“My parents wanted a son, but they got three daughters, me being the youngest. So they decided I’ll be their son. I have taken on the responsibilities. I have ensured that my father never has to return to being a state transport bus driver or work long hours. I will happily face injuries and the pain of training for my parents. Bhubaneswar is heaven for me – I get the best facilities, coaching and diet to improve in my sport,” she explains.
It was bound to be a tough move from Kolkata to Bhubaneswar – almost an uprooting away from friends. “Frankly, the weather is better in Odisha, food I’ve adjusted to, friends I miss. But most importantly, training is top-notch. In Kolkata, my training virtually stopped after SAI (Sports Authority of India) coach Lekhan sir moved to Delhi,” Pranati says.
National coach Ashok Mishra would invite her to train at the High Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar, and while she trusted his technical knowledge, she also found help from coach Rohit Jaiswal, a former Commonwealth Games gymnast. They would convince her that she could medal, if she stuck to her strengths – even without a monster 6 D vault. “If I try something outrageous without training, I will definitely fall,” she explains.
What goes in
Perhaps, the biggest improvement took place with Egyptian coach Amany Gouda sorting out Pranati’s diet. “All carbohydrates went out – more fruits, chicken, eggs, paneer. My BMI (Body Mass Index) went from 24 to 15. I never ate outside food, but now I’m on elite gymnasts’ diet charts.”Story continues below this ad
Amany also managed to cut down on her crazy repetitions, that was wrecking her ankle and elbows, and help prolong her career beyond 29.
Pranati Nayak in action. (FILE photo)
“Earlier, it would be 15-20 repetitions. Now it’s 10. Also warm-up is smarter – 45 minutes of runs, rotations, jump exercises, besides strengthening. At this stage, my movements are only polished. Not changing anything,” Pranati explains the contribution of Amany, who left in January.
She would aggravate pain on the floor exercise at the National Games, and has gone easy on other apparatus, though she will devote time to each ahead of the Asian Championships in June, where the All-Around score will matter. “That tournament is important to qualify for the Asian Games next year. That and CWG will be where I target my best,” she says.
She still enjoys her music, dance and shopping in solitude. “I just watch positivity videos on YouTube and manage my thoughts. Once you decide that you can’t let circumstances break you, you find focus in training. Akele raho, apna training dekho, apna khao, apna peeyo,” she says of her monastic life at Bhubaneswar. The bronze in Turkey told her she was on the right track – not bothering about footsteps to follow.