Kolkata: Dipa Karmakar I always loved being history.
The first of the Indian gymnast to compete at the olympic games She is a source of inspiration from Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 to Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 when she became the first girl from India who won any medal in this sport. She was also the person who won gold medal International Gymnastics Federation Rhythmic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup 2018, held on Mersin, Türkiye.
On Sunday, she made history again by becoming victorious in senior women’s artistic vault event gymnastics taking place at Tashkent, Uzbekistan during Asian Championships.
Dipa was not new to this stage as Indian gymnasts had previously won four bronze medals including her at the Asian Gymnastics Games. The only difference is that an Indian has been there for the first time now.
After doing what he had done all along, Tripura girl burst into words of joy. “I can’t really say anything about how I feel right now,” she said after making an epic achievement.
Earlier on Friday, Dipa finished 16th in the all-around with a score of 46.166 and on Sunday, Dipa won the gold medal in vault with an average score of 13.566. Silver and bronze went to North Korea’s Kim Sun-hyang (13.466) and Cho Kyung-sung (12.966).
“I passed through many problems… lots of injuries and surgeries before I could come back… It is a tough job and it wouldn’t have been possible without my family who have always supported me during thick & thin and my coaches” she told Times Of India briefly expressing herself.
Her first vault on Sunday was Tsukahara straight 720 followed by somersault forward straight 360
However, when asked about how her day went Dipa mentioned “I probably could have done a little bit better, but there were some penalties and I got points deducted.”
Dipa did not perform poorly even with the punishment that befell her as said by Coach Bishweshwar Nandy “It was very difficult for her… it was tough challenge she had to face on this issue, but we never stopped trying, either of us.” The Dronacharya Award-winning coach added.
Nevertheless for Dipa, Paris Olympics is a no-go area, something that still hurts her. She finished fourth in the vault gymnastics Olympic qualifying World Cup rankings with 52 points overall and only two best gymnasts qualified.
Out of four events including Cairo, Baku and Doha where she participated in three events after reaching finals in all these three events but unfortunately she did not make it podium even once. In Cairo she ended up fifth whereas in the two subsequent races came forth just outside of the medal positions.
However when asked about the reasons behind this downfall at 30 years old she explained her position “I have been doing my very best trying to do vaults which did not go well.”
She stands fourth on the waiting list for vault at the Olympics in Paris though.
For now though, she hasn’t thought about that yet; she just wants to go home and enjoy this moment with her family. “We don’t know what will happen next for her, we’ll have to decide later,” coach Bishweshwar said.
It is important for us to observe that Dipa came back to compete in gymnastics last year after serving 21 months as a result of doping violation and went on top of the Asian Games trials.
But she did not go further in the competition. But eight years later, she participated in this year’s national meet and won three medals in the women’s events – all-around gold, vault silver and uneven bars silver.
It was a strong display; Sunday’s gold medal effort means she still has more to offer going forward.
Indian Asian Championship medallist
- 2006, Surat (India): Ashish Kumar, bronze medal on floor exercise
- 2015, Hiroshima (Japan): Dipa Karmakar, bronze medal winner on vault
- 2019, Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia): Pranati Nayak – bronze medal holder on vault
- 2022, Doha (Qada): Pranati Nayak – bronze medallist at the vault.
- 2024, Tashkent (Uzbekistan): Dipa Karmakar – winner of gold in vault.
