BHUBANESWAR: Odisha’s ace gymnast Rakesh Kumar Patra and Agartala girl Dipa Karmakar emerged as the best man and woman gymnasts, respectively, in the Senior Artistic Gymnastic Championship that concluded here at the Kalinga Stadium on Thursday.
Ahead of the Paris Olympics, the event was the best platform to test their skill and the 31-year-old local favourite Rakesh made the most of it. “Age is a number and it all depends how strong you are in your mind. I am happy that today also I am fit to beat many young players,” he said after bagging the over-all men’s champion title along with gold (13.533) in individual still rings, silver (13.433) in parallel bar and bronze (12.233) in horizontal bar. Dipa won silver in Vaulting Table (12.700) and Uneven Bars (10.433). Results: Women Individual: Floor Exercise: Pranati Das (Railways, 11.900) , B Aruna Reddy (Telangana-B 11.867), Shatakshi Takke (Maharashtra, 11.533); Balancing Beam: Ritu Das (West Bengal, 13.167), Riddhi Hattekar (Maharashtra 10,933), Pranati Nayak (Railways, 10.433); Uneven Bar: Pranati Das (Railways, 10.433), Dipa Karmakar (Tripura, 10.433), Karishma (Odisha, 10.300); Vaulting Bar: Pranati Nayak (Railways, 12.833), Dipa Karmakar (Tripura, 12.467), Protistha Samanta (Railways, 12.400); Men’s Individual: Horizontal Bar: Yogeshwar (Harayana, 13.000), Gaurav Kumar (Services, 12.300), Rakesh Kumar Patra (Odisha, 12.233); Parallel Bar: Saif Tamboli (Services, 13.900), Rakesh Kumar Patra (Odisha, 13.433), Gaurav Kumar 9Services, 13.333); VaultingTable: Siddharth Verma (Railways, 13.134), Ujwal Naidu (Railways, 13.050), Bhaskar Das (Services, 13.017); Still Rings: Rakesh Kumar Patrea (Odisha, 13.533), Swathish K P (Kerala, 13.200), Tapan Mohanty (Odisha, 13.167); Pommel Horse: Harikrishnan J S (Kerala, 13.133), Siddharth Verma (Railways, 13.033), Yogeshwar (Haryana, 12.400).