It might be a bronze; but it is the first medal for India in Gymnastics World Cup. After Deepa Karmakar produced stunning result in the Rio Olympics, gymnastic has been a much talked-about sport in India. And Aruna Budda Reddy has ignited the flame once again. She became the first gymnast from this country to win a medal at the Gymnastics World Cup.
At Melbourne, Aruna secured bronze in the women’s vault by scoring 13.649 to finish behind gold medallist Tjasa Kysslef of Slovania and Emily Whitehead of Australia who took silver. The other Indian woman in contention, Pranati Nayak finished sixth with a score of 13.416.
It was in 2010 Commonwealth Games, Indian gymnast Ashish Kumar gave the country its first-ever gymnastics medal. Then at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian gymnast to qualify for Olympics in 52 years, where she narrowlly missed out on a bronze medal. Reddy’s medal will be one of the defining moments in Indian gymnastics.
Aruna is a former black belt and Karate trainer. In 2005, she won her first National medal in the sport. Reddy finished 14th at the qualification round of the Vault apparatus at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and went one up with a ninth-place finish at the Asian Games. Also, at the 2017 Asian Championships, Aruna finished on 6th position on Vault. She competed at world championships, including the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships at Antwerp in Belgium.
