Aruna Budda Reddy created history yesterday by becoming the first Indian gymnast to clinch an individual medal at the Gymnastics World Cup in Melbourne. Reddy scored 13.649 to win a bronze medal in the women’s vault.
Aruna Reddy finished behind gold medallist Tjasa Kysslef of Slovania and Australia’s Emily Whitehead, who bagged silver. Meanwhile, Pranati Nayak, who was the other Indian competing at the Tournament, finished sixth with a score of 13.416.
Reddy won her first national medal in 2005 that encouraged her to take up the sport. Her journey began with Commonwealth Games participation in 2014 where she finished at the 14th spot at the qualification round of the Vault apparatus. She bettered her performance to finish at the sixth position at the Asian Championships in 2017.
The 22-year-old gymnast will also be a part of India’s contingent at the Commonwealth Games this year in Australia. It was Ashish Kumar back in 2010 who made a mark for Indian gymnastics by clinching the country’s first-ever gymnastics medal — a bronze — at the Commonwealth Games. Since then, the only gymnast to represent India has been Dipa Karmakar at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she narrowly missed out on a bronze medal.
This post was published on February 25, 2018 5:50 pm