Commonwealth Games 2018: Aruna Budda Reddy can repeat Dipa Karmakar's feat, feels Bisweshwar Nandi

With just a day to go for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games to begin, the expectations from the Indian contingent are piling up.

Ahead of the showdown, famed gymnastics coach, Bisweshwar Nandi, who trains 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Dipa Karmakar, shared his views and predictions in an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda.

Sounding highly optimistic, Nandi tells us about his great expectations from the gymnastic contingent. "See, we have been winning medals for gymnastics ever since 2010. We repeated that feat in 2014 and are most likely to do so in 2018 too. We have high expectations from the team for sure."

The veteran coach, however, does not shirk reality and offers a grim fact that binds gymnastics. Forecasting medal wins is difficult he believes, especially in their sport. "Gymnastics is a very uncertain sport. It depends on how good a day the gymnast is having. It all comes down to his stars. Any great player could falter if his stars are not aligned correctly on the main day. So predicting is difficult in this case. "

However, he does not shy from confessing that given their good luck they have a fair chance. "1 or 2 medals can be assured, I think. If the players make it to the final you should understand, they are all medalists. If the stars favour you, then you will win it. There are so many cases of famous gymnasts not making the cut or falling short by a mark because it just wasn't their day," he rues.

In gymnastics, hopes and expectations bounce like on a trampoline-surge and fall. Ever the motivated person, Nandi still believes that positivity is the key thing.

"We all need hope. Without hope, we cannot survive.", he states philosophically.

Commenting on India's strongest hope for gymnastics, Aruna Budda Reddy, who has been under Nandi's wings since 2011, he is all praises. "She performed extremely well in the Gymnastics World Cup held in 2018. Whatever vaults I taught her here, she went out there and modified it and gave a cleaner performance of it and brought home a bronze medal for India."

"If she can persist with this form and perform so cleanly, then I am sure she can get more medals from the CWG," asserts Nandi.

However, he knows that the CWG is a different ballgame altogether. "The standard changes and rises up in the CWG every 6 months. The players need to keep up with it too and lift their performance constantly."

Nandi also comments about Rakesh Patra, who is there in the men's gymnastics team. Patra has always been dangerously close to success but has never been able to taste and clinch it for himself. "We cannot write him off entirely. If he keeps up a good form then he stands a good chance at winning a medal too."

He suggests further, "Patra's coach needs to encourage him to break this barrier and clinch success. You see, hard work always pays off. So Patra needs to start working harder if he wants to make that cut and it is upon the coach to push him. The hard work of the athletes show and become key reasons why some people win and some don't."

Signing off with a piece of wise adage, Nandi is the man who knows hard work is the most essential thing behind success. "The one who walks away with a medal must have done more hard work than the ones who did not get a medal. Luck also plays a pivotal role in shaping the results in gymnastics I feel. We now only have to wait a night before learning whose luck favours and how the cards play out for our gymnasts."