Nagoya, Sep 24 (IANS): Indian gymnast Pranati Nayak finished sixth in the women’s vault final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Thursday, improving by two places from her eighth-place finish at the 2023 Hangzhou edition.
The 31-year-old Tokyo Olympian, the lone Indian gymnast competing at the Games, registered an aggregate score of 13.100 at the Rainbow Hall of the Nagoya City General Gymnasium.
Pranati produced identical scores of 12.900 on both her vaults. She received a difficulty score of 4.4 and an execution mark of 8.500 for each attempt, before a 0.20 bonus was added to her overall tally.
The Indian had booked her place in the eight-gymnast final after finishing seventh in Tuesday’s qualification round with 12.916. She had scored 13.000 with her first vault and 12.433 with her second to make the medal round.
Republic of Korea’s Yeo Seo-jeong, the Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, claimed the gold medal, while defending champion An Chang-ok of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea settled for silver. China’s Du Siyu took bronze.
Pranati, a three-time Asian Championships bronze medallist in vault, came into the Asian Games after recovering from a leg injury. She had also endured disappointment at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow earlier this year, where she failed to advance to the vault final.
Her sixth-place finish in Nagoya nevertheless represented a step forward from Hangzhou, where she scored 12.350 to finish eighth in the same event.
Pranati’s result also kept alive India’s presence in the Asian Games gymnastics competition, although the country’s wait for another medal in the sport continues.
India’s only Asian Games gymnastics medal remains Ashish Kumar’s bronze in the floor exercise at the 2010 Guangzhou Games.
Pranati previously represented India at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and has established herself as one of the country’s leading vaulters through her performances at the continental level.
