A 16-year-old Ananya Garikipati showed brilliance in Moscow at the Mecca of gymnastics as she won gold and a silver medal. While she won the gold for her all-round performance, the silver medal was for Miss Championship title in Salut Cup in May. The pioneer now has become the first Indian rhythmic gymnast to win these medals in Moscow so far, TOI reported.
Ananya is a Grade XI student of Ganges Valley School in Hyderabad. At the competition, she was also bestowed the special award special for her excellent routines and brilliant apparatus handling in in the Junior Star Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship.
A 16-year-old Ananya Garikipati showed brilliance in Moscow at the Mecca of gymnastics as she won gold and a silver medal. While she won the gold for her all-round performance, the silver medal was for Miss Championship title in Salut Cup in May.
Ananya celebrated her 16th birthday during the tour. “The best thing about our trip is that Ananya turned 16 during one of the tournaments. Initially, she was not happy about competing on her birthday but it turned out to be the sweetest 16th birthday. To receive a special prize on her birthday made it the most memorable,’ said Ananya’s ecstatic mother Dr Padmaja, reported TOI.
During her Moscow outing Ananya was trained by 2008 Olympic champion Anna Gavrilenko. “The training is extremely hard but fruitful at the end. She is really blessed to be trained by an extremely humble Olympic champion,” Padmaja, who is an ophthalmologist, claimed.
“Ananya was praised for her artistry (beauty and elegance in her routines). The impressed Olympic champion had asked Ananya who made her routines. Ananya said she did them on her own as she didn’t have a rhythmic coach in India. This took the Russian by surprised as the gymnasts take the help of their coaches and choreographers to compose the routines. I am thrilled to bits as Ananya has such a creative streak in her,” she added.
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Talking about the struggles with pressure, she further added, “The sponsor at the third competition told Ananya that she is a brave gymnast. He told her, ‘I know how difficult it is to perform in a foreign country along with some of the world’s best gymnasts’.
During her Moscow outing Ananya was trained by 2008 Olympic champion Anna Gavrilenko.
“Ananya performed some elements which were intricate and mostly done by the Russians. The crowd cheered so much that it’s going to ring in my years for a very long time to come. Her music routines were of the ‘Queen Old Classics’. The icing on the cake, which made my daughter the happiest on the whole planet, was when the little Russian gymnasts took pictures with her and asked for autographs. It made her day,” a beaming mother said.
Feature Image Credit: TOI
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