Aruna Budda Reddy on Saturday created history by becoming the first Indian gymnast to win an individual medal at the Gymnastics World Cup as she clinched a bronze in the women’s vault event here.
The 22-year-old Reddy, who hails from Hyderabad, scored 13.649 average points to win the bronze at the Hisense Arena. Tjasa Kysslef of Slovania won the gold with a score of 13.800 while Emily Whitehead of Australia took the silver with 13.699.
Another Indian in the final round, Pranati Nayak finished sixth with a score of 13.416.
The sport of gymnastics has a series of World Cup events in a year and they are second in importance after the World Championships.
Dipa Karmakar, who finished fourth in the 2016 Rio Olympics in women’s vault event, has won a bronze each in the Asian Championships and 2014 Commonwealth Games but not at the level of a World Cup.
This was Aruna’s first international medal, though she has taken part at the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, 2014 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games and the 2017 Asian Championships.
Her best international performance before Saturday’s feat was the sixth-place finish at the 2017 Asian Championships vault event. In all the other international events, she could not go beyond the qualification stage.
