Bhubaneswar: The opening day of the National Senior Artistic Gymnastics Championships witnessed some impressive performances at the Gymnastics Center at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar. Odisha’s Rakesh Kumar Batra shined in the all-rounder as he finished first, while Railways clinched the gold medal with 293.00 points on the first day of the national championship.
Services scored 292.10 to take silver, while hosts Odisha settled for bronze with 290.40 points.
Siddhartha Das, Director, Sports and Youth Services, Odisha, attended the inauguration ceremony as the chief guest. Avijit Paul, Secretary, Odisha Olympic Association and officials from AM/NS India were also present.
Local champion Rakesh scored 75.05 points to take first place in the all-around. He scored 12.15 points on the floor exercise, 11.35 on the pommel horse, 14.15 on the rings, 12.75 on the vault, 12.20 on the parallel bars and 12.45 on the horizontal bars.
Commenting on his performance on the opening day, Rakesh expressed, “I am extremely happy to have finished first in the all-rounder. This feat makes it even more amazing because I achieved it at home, in front of my people, and at the place where I train. I am grateful for the support.” I receive from Odisha AM/NS India Center for High Performance Gymnastics, Government of Odisha, Odisha Gymnastics Association and Gymnastics Federation of India.I am now looking forward to giving my best in the individual competition on the final day of the tournament.
Railways’ Siddharth Verma earned 74.75 points to take second place, scoring 11.30 on floor exercise, 12.90 on pommel horse, 12.30 on rings, 13.55 on volts, 12.75 on parallel bars, and 11.95 on bars Horizontal.
Gaurav Kumar from Services ranked third with 74.65 points. He scored 12.40 points on the floor exercise, 11.45 on the pommel horse, 12.55 on the rings, 12.45 on the vault, 13.25 on the parallel bars and 12.55 on the horizontal bars.
Olympians Deepa Karmakar and Pranati Nayak will participate in the second day of the 2024 Senior National Artistic Gymnastics Championships.