As the 53rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships approach (October 19–25, 2025, Jakarta), India enters with a carefully structured plan tailored to the event’s post-Olympic individual format.
With no team event in Jakarta, this year’s Championships provide a unique opportunity for apparatus specialists to make their mark and for India, it’s a chance to build upon its long-standing strength in Women’s Vault while recalibrating the men’s program for long-term competitiveness. India’s delegation to Jakarta comprises five male (MAG) and four female (WAG) gymnasts. The selection aligns with the format’s focus on individual apparatus and all-around finals, eliminating the need for broad-based team depth and allowing the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) to deploy its limited resources strategically.
At the heart of the Indian challenge lies Pranati Nayak, the Tokyo Olympian and Asian Championships medallist, who continues to anchor India’s pursuit of global recognition. Her recent form, highlighted by bronze medals at the 2025 Jecheon Asian Championships (13.466) and Antalya World Cup (13.417), positions her at the threshold of qualification for the Vault final a realm where India has historically excelled.
For the men’s squad, led by Yogeshwar Singh and Tapan Mohanty, the goal is different: exposure, experience, and a systematic push to elevate their difficulty scores (D-scores) to international standards.
The Jakarta Format: A Strategic Opening
The 2025 Championships’ structure held without team competition is a blessing in disguise for India. Without the burden of assembling a six-member team capable of covering all apparatus, the federation can channel energy and funding toward apparatus specialists with genuine medal or final potential. This approach fits neatly with India’s competitive profile: historically, its global success has come not from all-around consistency but from isolated brilliance on single apparatus.
The likes of Dipa Karmakar (Vault gold, Mersin 2018), Aruna Reddy (Vault bronze, Melbourne 2018), and Pranati Nayak herself have exemplified this targeted excellence model. In Jakarta, the realistic podium potential is once again concentrated in the WAG Vault, where qualification to the top eight requires an average score of around 13.500 precisely where Pranati currently operates.
Pranati Nayak: The Vault Specialist Who Carries India’s Hopes
Now 29, Pranati Nayak represents India’s most consistent presence in international gymnastics. Her performances in 2024–25 have proven that she possesses both the technical foundation and mental toughness required to reach a World Championships final. Her challenge, however, lies in stabilizing her second vault. At the 2025 Asian Championships, Pranati scored 13.666 on her first vault but only 12.866 on her second, lowering her average to 13.466 just a fraction shy of the 2022 World Championships cut-off of 13.499.
The takeaway is clear: India’s World final hopes hinge on improving the second vault’s execution and difficulty by just 0.2–0.3 points. Such a gain would raise her average above the 13.500 mark enough to realistically challenge for a top-eight berth. Given the event’s Asian setting and Pranati’s experience competing under similar conditions, Jakarta represents perhaps her best chance to become the first Indian gymnast since Dipa Karmakar to reach a World final.
Alongside Nayak, India’s women’s team includes Swastika Ganguly, Bidisha Gayen, and Anoushka Patil all crucial figures in India’s long-term developmental vision. Swastika, with an all-around total of 45.300 at the 2024 Nationals, and Bidisha, who scored 44.050, provide depth and international exposure in Vault and Beam. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Anoushka Patil’s inclusion fresh from winning a silver at the Khelo India Youth Games is a forward-looking move designed to fast-track her into senior elite competition.
Their roles in Jakarta are less about immediate results and more about closing the gap between national and international scoring standards, laying the groundwork for the 2026–28 cycle.
The Men’s Team: Confronting the D-Score Deficit
If the women’s side enters Jakarta with a clear podium target, the men’s squad faces a sobering reality: India’s Men’s Artistic Gymnastics (MAG) remains limited by a significant difficulty deficit across all apparatus. Yogeshwar Singh, a seasoned competitor and National Games Vault champion, has been consistent domestically (13.500 average on Vault), but remains roughly a full point short of the 14.500 global benchmark required for finals. Similarly, Tapan Mohanty, India’s Floor Exercise and Rings champion, averages between 13.0 and 13.1, about 1.5 points below international contention levels.
The gap widens further in Pommel Horse, where national gold medallist Harikrishnan Jayan Sandhya’s 12.600 score trails world-class standards (≈15.000) by over two points a reflection of routines built on D-scores around 4.5–5.0, far below the 6.5–7.0 seen internationally.
The diagnosis is unmistakable: India’s MAG challenge is not execution but complexity. To bridge this gap, the emphasis must shift from “clean routines” to “high-value routines” incorporating more advanced elements, connection bonuses, and combination dismounts.
The federation’s decision to base the national camp at the National Centre of Excellence (NCE), Guwahati has already paid dividends. Months of preparation at the competition venue have allowed athletes to fine-tune routines under familiar environmental conditions, replicating the very airflows and apparatus setups they’ll face in Jakarta. Equally vital has been the contribution of Ivan Sozonov, the Russian doubles Olympic champion turned coach, who has brought technical structure and tactical nuance to India’s training.
While primarily guiding doubles gymnasts previously in badminton, his involvement at GFI reflects a growing cross-disciplinary exchange of elite coaching methodologies emphasizing psychological resilience, precision under stress, and advanced routine construction.
The Jakarta 2025 World Championships mark a pivotal moment for Indian gymnastics. For Pranati Nayak, it’s a shot at immortality to follow in Dipa Karmakar’s footsteps and reach a World final once more. For India’s men, it’s an essential diagnostic mission a chance to quantify exactly how far they must go to close the global gap. If executed well, this campaign won’t just be remembered for a Vault final appearance it could stand as the turning point where India’s gymnastics program began transitioning from isolated brilliance to sustained, system-driven global competitiveness.
In Jakarta, India’s gymnasts aren’t just competing for medals they’re competing for the future of the sport itself.
