NEW DELHI:
Dipa Karmakar put India on the world gymnastics map at the 2016 Rio Olympics when she finished fourth in the women's vault finals, missing out on the bronze medal by a whisker. She became the poster girl for gymnastics in India and following in her footsteps, another young gymnast has been slowly and steadily making her mark.
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Meet Telangana's 19-year-old
Meghna Reddy
whose recent performance at the Commonwealth Games trials in the national capital have caught everyone's attention. In front of senior coaches like
Bishweswar Nandi
and Jayprakash Chakraborty, Meghna, who specialises in Rhythmic Gymnastics, made quite an impression at the Indira Gandhi Stadium by topping the charts with 54 points – a tally which is close to the score of the winner at the 2014 CWG.
Besides that, she has been consistently logging scores across European competitions which are closer to those of several Olympian gymnasts and thus giving rise to India's Olympic hopes of a medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Nandi, who is also the coach of Dipa, is all praise for Meghna. "She has got amazing perfection level. It is indeed a treat to watch her perform," he said.
Meghna, whose mother Praveena Reddy was a national level gymnast herself, began training at the age of 11 years.
Praveena, who now judges international gymnastic tournaments, has big dreams for her daughter.
Talking to Ei Samay on phone Reddy said, "Meghna has been undergoing training sessions in Greece under the world famous Greek rhythmic gymnast
Varvara Filiou
since the last 8 months. Her entire support system is arranged by Varvara herself. Meghna has her local coach too and trains under him when at home."
Meghna participated at the 2016 Asian Championships but failed to secure a medal. Praveena says they spend Rs 2 lakh on Meghna every month which means the family must arrange Rs 24 lakh per year on her training and other paraphernalia.
Despite her impressive performances, Meghna is not listed in the Central governments' Target Olympic Podium [TOP] scheme. Her training contract with Filiou will expire at the end of the
Tokyo Olympics
.