Bhubaneswar: It was a memorable Saturday for Odisha’s female sportspersons, who shone in India and abroad.
Puja Rani Barik clinched gold medal in the 10m Air Pistol Deaf Women category at the 0135 India Open Shooting competition held at the Trishul Shooting Range, Maharana Pratap Sports College in Raipur, Dehradun.
Away in Uzbekistan, ace gymnast Pranati Nayak, who trains at the Odisha AM/NS India Gymnastics High Performance Centre (HPC), clinched the silver medal with a score 13.025 in Women’s Vault at the FIG Tashkent World Challenge Cup. It marked a fine comeback on the international stage for the 31-year-old Pranati, only the second Indian gymnast after Dipa Karmakar to have competed in the Olympics.
Completing the happy day for Odisha women was the selection of Payal Nag in the Women’s archery compound category for the upcoming Para Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.
The 18-year-old from Odisha, the world’s first quadruple-amputee archer, qualified for the Para Asian Games following a string of brilliant international and domestic performances.
