Aruna Budda Reddy wins bronze at Gymnastics World Cup to create history
Aruna Budda Reddy became the first Indian in history to win an individual medal in the womenâs vault by clinching a bronze medal at the Gymnastics World Cup in Melbourne on Saturday. She is also the second Indian after Ashish Kumar to win a bronze after the latter last won one in 2010 CWG.
Ashish Kumar was the first Indian to win a medal in gymnastics for India as he clinched a bronze in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which had put Indian Gymnastics on the world map. Dipa Karmakar, then, followed Kumar to become the first Indian gymnast to qualify for the Olympics before narrowly missing out on the bronze medal.
Now, Reddy has furthered it by becoming the first Indian gymnast ever to win an individual medal in the womenâs vault. The former black belt finished after Slovenia's Tjasa Kysslef and Australia's Emily Whitehead in Melbourne, who won gold and silver respectively. Aruna managed to score 13.649 in the finals that ensured her the bronze medal finish. Another Indian, Pranati Nayak, finished with a score of 13.416 which put her in the sixth place in the finals.
The 22-year-old had won her first national medal in 2005 that first convinced her to take up the sport as her career and since then, she has progressed in every step. She had finished the qualification round of the Vault apparatus during the 2014 Commonwealth Games at the 14th position, while she managed a 6th place finish at the 2017 Asian Championships last year.