Fit-again Pranati banks on quality training to improve execution scores

Experienced gymnast Pranati Nayak is full of confidence after her successful comeback from a six-month injury layoff and is keen to improve her difficulty and execution scores in upcoming elite events – the Asian Championships, the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.

Pranati, who was out of action after suffering a ligament injury in her ankle in October last year, bounced back this month by securing a silver in vault at the World Challenge Cup in Tashkent.

“I had viral fever before the competition. I didn’t do a lot of repetitions. My coach gave me quality training [instead of quantity] to save my energy. He asked me to land just two vaults. I just wanted to increase my confidence,” said Pranati, on her maiden international silver medal, at a virtual press conference organised by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Friday.

Now, Pranati, a three-time Asian bronze medallist, wants to improve her scores in the Asian championships (Zunyi, China, June 18 to 21).

“The Asian Championships is the qualification event for the Asian Games. All the main athletes will be there. So it will be tougher. I’ll have to increase my difficulty level. It depends on how the training goes.”

Her coach, Ashok Mishra, said: “Now we have started training by giving a double soft mat for soft landing. Her main vault is Tsukahara straight double twist. She won a medal by doing this vault in the 2025 Asian Championships. We’ll try to bring it back. The final decision will be taken after seeing the level of competitors. All three competitions (Asian Championships, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games) are really tough.

Having spent 23 years in the sport and suffering several injuries, the 31-year-old Pranati, who trains at the high performance centre in Bhubaneswar, wants to perform well this year before thinking about her future.