Gymnast Aruna Reddy made history when she became India’s first World Cup medal winner with a bronze in Melbourne. The vault, made famous in India by Dipa Karmakar, once again proved the launch pad for a woman gymnast from the country. Aruna wanted a ‘Karate Kid’ story for herself, she even has a black belt to show for it. Narayan Reddy, her sports-mad accountant father had other plans in mind. He got her enrolled in an academy in Hyderabad as an eight-year old.
“Every medal I will win is dedicated to my father who died in 2010,” she said. Training alongside Dipa under coach Bisweswar Nandi at national camps since 2011, playing second fiddle to Dipa had become a routine of sorts for Aruna. India’s first gymnastics World Cup bronze medal marks a serious emerging from the shadows for Aruna Reddy. A cloudy evening in Melbourne provided a sliver lining. All of 22, Aruna promptly took the plunge. It was history-making, even if meant missing out on silver by a mere 0.05 points.
She managed an average score of 13.649 points to finish behind gold winner Tjasa Kysslef (13.800) of Slovenia and Australia’s Emily Whitehead (13.699), who clinched silver. The other Indian in the fray, Pranti Nayak, finished sixth in the final with 13.416.
“Indian gymnastics is synonyms to Dipa, but now people will know that there’s Aruna Reddy as well,” the Hyderabad girl said of Dipa Karmakar, the better known training partner. “We have been training together since 2011. We are not rivals and can’t be. We are each other’s support system during training and competition time. We treat each other as sisters and are close friends. Her hard work actually inspires me. Even before leaving for this competition, Dipa had motivated me by telling me to give my best shot and not to feel the pressure,” she added.
