Tokyo Olympics: Bus driver’s daughter Pranati Nayak wins gymnastics quota for Games

The 26-year-old gymnast Pranati Nayak from Kolkata had won bronze in vault at the 2019 Asian Championships held in Mongolia.

Pranati Nayak, the Asian Championships bronze-medallist in vault, earned a quota to compete at next month’s Tokyo Olympics, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) officially announced this week. Pranati got a quota place through reallocation since the Asian Championships, scheduled to be held in Tokyo in May, was cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic. The gymnast hails from Midnapore in West Bengal, where her father Sumanta Nayak is a private bus driver “We have got official confirmation from the International governing body in gymnastics on Monday evening that Pranati has been reallocated continental quota place to compete at the Olympics,” Pranati’s coach Lakhan Sharma was quoted as saying by news agency IANS. On May 1, it was reported that Pranati will be reallocated continental quota by the FIG to compete in Olympics on the basis of her performance in the 2019 Asian Championships as several Olympic qualification competitions were cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic.