Rajendra Prasad Mohapatra
Bhubaneswar, Sept 19: Top Orissa gymnast Rakesh Patra is eying a Rio Olympics berth performing well in the upcoming World Gymnastics Championships at Glasgow, starting October 23.
Rakesh qualified for the world meet after securing the top position in the All India trials at New Delhi, October 17. Three other gymnasts along with Rakesh have also qualified for Glasgow. They are Ashis Kumar, Sidharth Verma and Dipa Karmakar. In the men’s segment, Rakesh scored 81.90 points in the trials to qualify while Ashis and Sidhartha achieved scores of 80.55 and 80.10 points respectively.
In spite of being upbeat about qualifying for the World Championships, the Orissa lad however, ruled out India’s chances of winning a medal. “The standard is very high, we will gain experience. However, there is no chance of winning a medal,” Rakesh stated Friday evening here.
“However, I have set my sights to qualify for the Rio Games. The qualifying score is 81.50 points, which is much below than my trial standard (81.90). So, I am optimistic about getting the chance to participate in Rio,” the gymnast added.
Incidentally, if Rakesh qualifies for Rio, he will be the first gymnast from the state to achieve the feat. “We are training under our coach Ashok Kumar Mishra and working very hard. Hopefully, by God’s grace my dreams will turn into a reality,” he stated.
Meanwhile Rakesh’s coach Ashok is also optimistic about his ward’s Rio chances. “I am happy with Rakesh’s consistency and improvement. But he needs to work harder to be successful at the international level,” stated Ashok.