A delightful finish to the Junior Artistic Gymnastics National Championships 2023-24 saw young gymnasts from across the country put on remarkable performances at the newly-build Gymnastics Centre in Kalinga stadium, Bhubaneswar.
Sailendra Jena, Joint Secretary, Sports and Youth Services Department, Government of Odisha graced the medal ceremony and gave away the medals to the winners on Saturday.
Nishika Agarwal from Telangana hogged the limelight in the women’s category as she clinched a total of five medals in the Junior National Championship (Vault- Gold; Uneven Bars – Gold; Balance Beams – Bronze; Floor Exercise – Silver and All-around – Gold), as per a Sports Odisha press release.
Following a successful outing Nishika expressed, “I feel extremely happy having won the medals in each category. We did not face any difficulty at all here as organisers took care of everything, and it was a memorable experience for me performing at this great venue.”
Odisha’s Biru Chandra Rao and Alok Kumar, who are Odisha AM/NS India Gymnastics High Performance Centre cadets had a memorable tournament. Biru clinched Bronze in the Floor Exercise and Alok won Bronze in the all-around of the men’s category. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s Oceana Renee Thomas, who also trains at the Gymnastics HPC in Odisha won medals in Balance Beams (Gold) and Floor Exercise (Bronze) in the women’s category.
All three HPC medal winners expressed their happiness over their successful outing at the championship. Oceana said, “Although I won medals, I think there are a few aspects that need improvement. Looking forward to improving and winning more medals in future events.
Meanwhile, Biru stated, “I am really happy that I got a chance to perform and win a medal in front of my home crowd, at the same venue where I train. But, I think I need to improve on a lot of aspects, and implement the learnings in future events.”
-Here are the individual results of Men and Women’s Categories:
Junior Women Artistic Gymnastics
*Vault
In Vault, Nishika Agarwal from Telangana won Gold with a final score of 12.734, West Bengal’s Soumili Karar recorded 12.184 to clinch Silver and Maharashtra’s Haasya Mungekar bagged Bronze with 11.867 points.
*Uneven Bars
In Uneven Bars, Telangana’s Nishika Agarwal won Gold with 9.767 points, Maharashtra’s Sara Rawool clinched Silver with 8.800 points and Delhi’s Sneha Tariyal secured Bronze with 8.567.
*Balance Beams
In the Balance Beams, Tamil Nadu’s Oceana Renee Thomas, who trains at the Odisha AM/NS India Gymnastics High-Performance Centre, clinched Gold with a score of 10.733. Gujarat’s Nishi Bhavsar bagged Silver with 10.667 points and Telangana’s Nishika Agarwal won Bronze with 10.500 points.
*Floor Exercise
In the Floor exercise, Maharashtra’s Anoushka Patil scored 11.900 to clinch Gold. Nishika Agarwal bagged yet medal of the day as she clinched Silver with 11.800 points and Oceana Renne Thomas won Bronze with 10.900 points.
Junior Men Artistic Gymnastics
*Pommel Horse
In the final of Pommel Horse, West Bengal’s Sohom Majumdar clinched gold with 12.333 points, Maharashtra’s Siddhant Konde bagged Silver with 12.033 and Kerala’s Midhun Nair settled for Bronze with 12.000 points.
*Floor Exercise
West Bengal’s Niladri Sarkar starred in the Floor Exercise as he bagged Gold recording 12.400. Maharashtra’s Aayush Kumar finished second with 12.133, while Odisha’s Biru Chandra Rao clinched Bronze with 12.000 points.
*Rings
In the Rings, Siddhant Konde from Maharashtra clinched Gold with 11.933 points, Subhadeep Pa from West Bengal recorded 11.900 to bag Silver and UP’s Pranav Mishra settled for Bronze with 11.833 points.
*Vault
In Vault, Maharashtra’s Aaryan Davande topped with 13.400, Harschit D from Uttar Pradesh bagged Silver with 13.183 and Siddhant Konde from Maharashtra won Bronze with 13.050.
*Parallel Bar
In Parallel Bars, UP’s Sumit Yadav clinched Gold, recording 12.167 points. Aaryan Davande won Silver with 12.113 and UP’s Pranav Mishra recorded 12.100 to bag Bronze.
*Horizontal Bar
UP’s Nuen topped the Horizontal Bar apparatus with 11.700, while Maharashtra’s duo of Aaryan Davande and Anay Kirlosk finished second and third with 11.667 and 11.033 points respectively.
The Senior Artistic Gymnastics National Championship is scheduled to be held from January 2-4 2024 at the Gymnastics High Performance Centre in Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar.
