His father, Lokanath, was once clearly more than pleased when the teenager began to coach at an akhada close to his space from when he was once simply seven years previous. As his passion grew over the years, his father in the future took him to the Indoor Stadium in Puri for the wrestling To set up variety trials.
“But after I were given there, I noticed other folks doing gymnastics and it stuck my consideration,” said Mohanty.
The incident made him change his mind as he told his father at the very venue that he wanted to be a gymnast and it was the start of a beautiful journey that will now see him take part in Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou from September 23 to October 8. Incidentally, it will be his first international meet.
“I am thrilled to be taking part in Asian Games. It was 2012 and I was just 10 years old when I started training in gymnastics and this wouldn’t have been possible without the huge support of my coaches — Ashok Mishra and Pradip Sahoo — and my family,” said Mohanty, who made the squad following the selection trials held in Bhubaneswar earlier this month where he earned a total of 74.60 points.
His performance not only helped him grab the third spot in the overall standings but also earned him laurels from his coach as well as the judges, who noted ‘good potential’ besides his name in the final list.
A specialist on still rings, parallel bars and floor exercise, Mohanty is currently undergoing routine training to make sure whatever he is performing looks as clean as possible. “I train three hours in the morning and again three hours in the evening,” added the youngster, who has been training at Gymnastics High Performance Center in Bhubaneswar since early this year.
While coach Mishra is always there to guide him, Mohanty also takes a lot of inspiration from Rakesh Patra — a seasoned gymnast, also from Odisha, who will be taking part in his fourth Asian Games.
“Rakesh Bhiaya is like an elder brother to me who always pushes me to do better and work harder. He keeps telling what to do and how to rectify my mistakes. I also try to learn as much as possible from him,” added the 20-year-old gymnast.
Besides Patra and Mohanty, the entire different male gymnasts who’ve been decided on for Asiad also are recently coaching at HPC which was once formally inaugurated previous this week through leader minister Naveen Patnaik. It is a joint initiative with AM/NS India and there also are plans of putting in academies in Puri, Jeypore and Rourkela. While inaugurating the venue, the CM additionally introduced exams of Rs 10 lakh every to Patra and Mohanty for qualifying for Asian Games.
While those projects will lend a hand the game acquire recognition, what’s going to make it even higher is that if any of the Indian gymnasts placed on a just right display at Asiad. It will probably be very tricky however now not unimaginable.