KOLKATA: In a sport usually considered as a hunting ground for a much younger lot, gymnast Pranati Nayak seems to be an instance of rarity. At 27, the 1995-born girl from Jhargram is one of the senior-most competitors in the Indian gymnastics fraternity. But ask her about the age factor, her answer is instant and introspective.
"I think as I grow older, I get more mature, and my performance has also improved. Age is just a number for me. As long as you don't feel defeated, nobody can beat you," she told TOI over telephone from her training base in New Delhi.
With this optimism, the 27-year-old girl - who became only the second female Indian gymnast after pioneering Dipa Karmakar to the Olympic cut - is preparing for next week's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with a mission to break more new ground.
Ashish Kumar's one silver and one bronze in the Delhi CWG in 2010 and Dipa's history-making bronze in Manchester four years later, were all Indian gymnastics could boast of from the Games. Pranati wants to go a notch above her illustrious predecessors.
"Winning a gold in Birmingham? That's every athlete's dream. I'll certainly go for it, and I believe I'm now 100 per cent ready for the challenge. I've been training under (India coach) Rohit Jaiswal sir at the SAI (New Delhi). Since the event is scheduled in the morning in Birmingham, we are also following the same routine here. Moreover, we will also reach Birmingham 4-5 days before the Games in order to get acclimatized to the weather," she said.
"Gymnastics is a game where small details and smaller mistakes can make or break your chances. But having learnt from my past experiences, I'm leaving no stone unturned in achieving my goal," Pranati, a 2019 Asian championship bronze-winner, pointed out.
By her own admission, her maiden Olympic appearance last year was a significant part of her learning curve when she failed to qualify for the all-round final and was quickly accused of lacking "seriousness" and being "on a vacation" in Tokyo.
"Everyone passes through good and bad times. But people never realized how difficult was it for a player to get ready for the game's biggest stage when your preparations were hit hard by a pandemic. Thankfully, I could fall back on my family for mental support and SportsApp for helping me with training content and sponsorship to tide over that negative stage," she recalled.
Her performance graph since then has been encouraging, though.
Returning to international stage after her much-criticized show in the Tokyo Olympics, Pranati entered the FIG World Cup stage in Baku out of nowhere in March-April this year, when the original competitor withdrew because of an injury and the Bengal girl had to leave for the Azerbaijan capital just three days before the tournament without any coach and preparation. Yet, she almost defied the odds before finishing fourth.
She eventually made the podium two months later, winning a bronze at the Asian artistic gymnastics championships in Doha, thus becoming the first Indian to win two medals in the continental competition.
Both Dipa and Pranati broke into the international stage almost at the same time, when both went to Manchester for the 2014 CWG. Now carrying the legacy of Dipa, who seems to have disappeared from the Indian gymnastics scene, Pranati is still going strong carving a niche for herself.
Unlike Dipa, Pranati is not a 'Produnova' girl. "Produnova is a difficult vault, which can lead to injury. But there are other difficult routines which can fetch you as many points as a Produnova," she opined.
As a result, she is now focusing on Front Flip 540, a frontward somersault with a 540-degree spin. "I'm trying to excel at it. Let's see how it goes," she said with a note of determination.
