Gymnast Pranati Nayak, who was part of the first batch of Indian athletes to fly into Tokyo from New Delhi on Sunday morning, began her practice sessions ahead of the Olympics. In pictures posted by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Twitter, Pranati is pointing towards the balance beam with Tokyo 2020 written on it. In the second picture, she is seen standing with her coach Lakhan Manohar Sharma near the balance beam.
Pranati was a late entry into the Artistic Gymnastics event at the Olympics. In May, the 26-year-old received a ticket to Tokyo through the Asian quota as the second reserve after Sri Lanka’s Elpitiya Gehani.
The development happened following the cancellation of the 9th Senior Asian Championships, which were scheduled to be held from May 29-June 1 in Hangzhou, China due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bronze medallist in vault at the 2019 Asian Championships in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia was given permission to train in SAI’s eastern centre in Kolkata.
Before departing for Tokyo, Pranati had intense practice sessions at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.
The women’s artistic gymnastics events at the Olympics run from July 25 to August 3 at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre.
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