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Aruna Budda Reddy, the 22-year-old artistic gymnast created history by clinching the bronze medal in the ongoing Gymnastics World Cup in Australia.
By doing so, she became the first ever Indian to claim an individual medal at the Gymnastics World Cup. She managed to achieve her feat in vault, managing to score an average of 13.649 for her two attempts.
Tjasa Kysslef of Slovenia bagged the gold with an average score of 13.8 whereas Australian Emily Whitehead secured silver with an average of 13.699.
This is indeed a very proud moment for not only Reddy, but for the whole of India. The 22-year-old Reddy, initially had a deep inclination for karate. Her coach, however, felt that her body was a little too flexible for karate and hence, she directed her attention towards gymnastics which was much more suited to her.
Reddy, unfortunately, could not make it to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, since she was underage (15) at that point of time. She did make it to the 2014 CWG but her major break has certainly been the ongoing Gymnastics World Cup.
Owing to her outstanding performance in Melbourne, Reddy will be a part of the Indian gymnastic contingent which will be travelling to the Gold Coast, Queensland for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
India, previously not known for its gymnasts, has certainly managed to break the stereotype in recent years with Dipa Karmakar narrowly missing out on a bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Now Reddy finally brings home an individual medal in gymnastics.
The future does look promising for India in gymnastics and the 2018 Commonwealth Games might just be the perfect platform for the Indians to prove their mettle.
