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Though Tiana Sumanasekera fell just short of making the 2024 United States Women’s Gymnastics National Team, the 16-year-old from Pleasanton let the world know she is going to be a force over the next couple of Olympics.
Sumanasekera finished eighth in the all-around competition in the U.S. trials this past weekend in Minneapolis. Simone Biles captured the all-around title and the one automatic berth to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The USA Gymnastics selection committee then selected four more gymnasts to comprise the five-athlete U.S. team. Former Olympians Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey were picked for the next three spots.
First-time Olympian Hezley Rivera filled out the team, with the committee taking, in order, the final standings of the all-around competition.
Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong — the sixth- and seventh-place finishers — were named as traveling replacement athletes.
With Sumanasekera finishing eighth and with the selection committee taking the first seven in order of the all-around points, it is easy to assume she just missed a trip to Paris.
At just 16 — she turns 17 in September — the future is extremely bright for the UCLA commit. She has already competed in seven international events and, with this forecasted as likely the last Olympics for Biles, Sumanasekera seems the perfect athlete to take a spot in the 2028 Olympics, which will be hosted in Los Angeles.
My wife is not a sports fan, but she does love watching the women’s gymnastics and women’s figure skating every four years in the Olympics.
For me, it’s usually a time spent playing on my phone, much the same way it is for her reading a book when other sports are on TV.
And there I was Friday night while the trials were on, scrolling through social media sites, when my wife casually said, “Honey, I think there is a girl from Pleasanton in the trials.”
Sure enough, there was Tiana. My phone started blowing up with people asking, “Is that our Pleasanton?”
It was on, and I watched more gymnastics Friday and Sunday night than I had since the last Olympics. There was a huge sense of Pleasanton pride and I felt it from friends either via text, or social media.
This is what makes the city of Pleasanton so great — the sense of community. I am sure that not one person I heard from had any idea who Tiana was before the trials, but here we all were rooting her on with a tremendous sense of pride.
So, thank you Tiana! You made us all so proud, as well as highly anticipatory for the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
Tri-Valley Karate
The Tri-Valley Karate gym was well-represented in a pair of Northern California events recently.
In the Northern California Karate Federation Championships held in Yuba City, the organization was represented by Sanjit Mandal, Ram Sundaram, Neela Mandal, Sai Gautam Chippada and Saketh Kolar.
In the Bay Area Cities Karate Championships in San Mateo, the following students competed: Linh Van, Sophie Tran, Reagan Tran, Ami Mandal, Saketh Kolar, Liam Downs, Vedaanth Niranjan, Orko Sanyal, Ram Sundaram, Atiriya Belagodu, Disha Ramkumar and Neela Mandal.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
