Pranati Nayak qualifies for Asian Games vault final, sets shot at redemption

After a disappointing show at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Pranati Nayak gave herself a chance to make amends by qualifying for the vault final at the Asian Games on Tuesday.The 31-year-old, India’s only artistic gymnast at the continental meet, finished seventh in the qualification round at the Nagoya General Gymnasium with a total score of 12.916, including a bonus of 0.20.In her first jump – a Tsukahara back 360 with a straight body – which had a difficulty value of 4.4, Pranati earned 8,600 for the performance and scored 13,000 points. She followed that up with a 4.0 vault — a forward somersault with a half-turn hand pike — for a score of 8.433 for the execution, for a total of 12.433.It was enough to make it to the finals, where the 51-year-old Uzbekistani Oksana Chusovitina will also appear, who qualified in fourth place with a total score of 13.266.The two-time Olympic medalist, who missed the 2006 and 2010 Asian Games while representing Germany, is competing in her seventh continental meet. When Chusovitina made her debut at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, several members of the 2026 field had not yet been born.But for Pranati’s coach Ashok Mishra, the result was significant for a simpler reason: she achieved a goal he had set for himself before the competition.“It will be a very difficult test for her. But I think she will do well,” Mishra said TOI before the games.As she struggled with plantar fasciitis, much of Pranati’s recent training was also about adapting to the physical and mental demands of the landing, with Mishra using soft landing equipment and a foam pit before moving her to the main landing pad.But Pranati showed no signs of discomfort on Tuesday as she secured a place in the final, albeit with little separating her from the gymnasts just below her.As for South Korea’s Seojeong Yeo, she led the field with a score of 14.466 to comfortably qualify for the final. North Korea’s Chang Ok An was second with 13.900, while China’s DU Siyu secured the third qualifying spot with 13.433.For Pranati, who trains at the Odisha AM/NS India Gymnastics High-Performance Center in Bhubaneswar, the qualification provides an opportunity to shake off the disappointment of Glasgow, where a lack of speed in her approach marred her first jump and kept her out of the final.He will now return to the track on Thursday with a chance to improve on Tuesday’s performance when the medals are decided.