Bhubaneswar: Indian gymnast Pranati Nayak added another feather to her cap, clinching a bronze medal in the vault final at the 12th Senior Women’s Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jecheon, South Korea, on Saturday.
The 30-year-old Olympian from Odisha, who had earlier secured a bronze at the FIG World Cup in Antalya, Turkey, in March this year, registered a score of 13.466 to finish third on the podium.
China’s Yihan Zhang claimed the gold with 13.650, while Vietnam’s Thi Quynh Nhu Nguyen took the silver, scoring 13.583.
India’s rising talent Protistha Samanta also delivered a notable performance, narrowly missing out on a podium finish. She secured fourth place with an impressive score of 13.016, underlining her growing presence in the continental arena.
With this latest achievement, Pranati Nayak has now become India’s most decorated gymnast in the Asian Championships vault event, surpassing the legendary Dipa Karmakar’s tally of two medals. Nayak had previously bagged bronzes in Ulaanbaatar (2019) and Doha (2022).
In comparison, Karmakar had earned her first Asian vault medal — a bronze — in Hiroshima in 2015, followed by a gold in Tashkent earlier this year.
During Saturday’s final, Nayak delivered a strong first attempt of 13.666, which positioned her well in contention. However, a lower score of 12.866 in her second vault brought down her combined total.
She had qualified for the final after placing fourth in the preliminary round with a score of 13.083, while Protistha earned her spot in the medal round with a commendable 12.916.
According to sports analysts, the bronze not only reinforces Nayak’s stature as a consistent performer at the continental level but also adds momentum to India’s growing profile in women’s artistic gymnastics.
