Young gymnast Amba Boodansingh aims to soar higher

DAVID SCARLETT

JUVENILE gymnast Amba Boodansingh is on the rise as a budding star. At only ten years old, she has already represented Trinidad and Tobago in a Pan American competition and intends to continue to improve.

Boodansingh began her gymnastics career at the age of three when her parents introduced her to the sport to help counter her knock knee, a condition in which her knees were slightly bent inward.

Apart from helping improve the condition, she also grew to love gymnastics.

She then joined Tots and Tumblers Gymnastics Club in 2022 and developed a taste for competing.

In December 2023, Boodansingh represented Trinidad and Tobago at the Pan American Gymnastics Union (PAGU) Hopes Artistics tournament in Kingston, Jamaica where she helped Trinidad and Tobago earn a fifth-place finish.

Her most recent success came at the Tots and Tumblers Gymnastics Club 25th Anniversary Meet at the Woodbrook Youth Facility from March 15-17.

She enjoyed victories over gymnasts from clubs across the nation and the Caribbean, such as Tobago Gold Star Gymnastics, the Olympia Wolf Pack, Gymnastics Explorers, Champions Gymnastics, Lee Gymnastics Club, Flip Gym (Barbados), the Jamaica School of Gymnastics, as well as her own club.

Being the youngest gymnast to compete between levels five and ten, she won three events and placed second in another. In the bars event, she scored 9.7 to claim victory. She then scored 9.2 on the vault to earn her second gold medal, before scoring another 9.2 in the floor exercise to ensure a hat-trick of wins.

She followed up her three gold medals with a silver on the balance beam, where she scored 8.3.

In an interview with Newsday, Boodansingh expressed satisfaction with her journey so far. “It’s been going really well, I’ve been enjoying it a lot,” she said. “(At the anniversary meet), I enjoyed myself. During the warm-up I was a little nervous, but I became confident when I started the apparatuses.”

She gave credit to her father, Sunil – who is a cricketer – for her success. She said, “My dad trains me on mornings, and when I go to the gymnastics club on evenings, I work as hard as I can.

“He does strength and conditioning exercises with me and we focus on agility and endurance at the club.”

Additionally, she said that her favourite event is the bars event and she is also good on the vault.

Boodansingh's next competition will be at the Olympia Wolf Pack Caribbean Classics during the first weekend in May.

Her goal is to compete at level seven at that meet, as well as at the National Gymnastics Championship in June. The gymnast is also working towards qualifying for the Hopes Artistics tournament again, this time to compete at level two.