India’s Aruna hopes to do well after ACL surgery
DOHA (QAT) AGU Office: India’s Aruna Budda Reddy, who won the first-ever bronze medal in the vault for her country in FIG World Cup last year in Melbourne, Australia, is hoping to be back soon following a surgery.
The 23-year-old underwent Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction (ACL) surgery at her home town in Hyderabad, India, to replace the torn anterior cruciate ligament.
“Sportspersons are prone to injuries. Thanks to the hospital team, I’m back quickly after my rehabs and looking forward to prepare for the 2020 Olympics,” said Aruna, who quit karate to join gymnastics when she was five. “After the operation last November, I’m going through physiotherapy. I’ll bounce back soon as I am training harder than ever,” she added.
Aruna scored 13.649 average points in the vault event to finish behind Slovenian Tjasa Kysslef (13.800) and Australian Emily Whitehead (13.699) in Melbourne.
On her preparations, Aruna said, “Due to injury, I’ll have to skip seven World Cup event. I can only participate at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart in October. It will be the last qualifications for the Olympics. I’m determined to train harder and fetch a medal in Olympics and make the country proud.”
Aruna, who trains at the Gymnasium Hall in Lal Bahadur Stadium, exuded confidence that she can win medals in gymnastics, which isn’t very popular in a cricket-mad country.
“Everybody knows about badminton, cricket. Few people are interested in gymnastics. If we’ve better equipments, I’m sure more youngsters will take up the sport,” she added.
