April 22, 14.42 PM IST || Pocket News Alert
Wins Gold in Vault at the final Olympic Qualifying Event
We are proud to announce that GoSports athlete Dipa Karmakar has scripted history by becoming the first ever female gymnast from India to qualify for the Olympics. Competing at the test event for Rio, the talented 22-year-old from Tripura beat her idol Oksana Chusovitina to win the Gold medal event. Dipa finished with a total score of 14.833 at the Aquece Rio Final Gymnastics Qualifier Test event, while Uzbekistan's Oksana Chusovitina, an Olympic Silver medallist from the 2008 Summer Games herself, finished with a score of 14.716.
Dipa was introduced to gymnastics by her father, who was a weightlifting coach with the Sports Authority of India. Her qualification also marks the validation of the hard work put in by her long-time coach, Bishweshwar Nandi with whom she has trained for over 16 years. Mr. Nandi has been instrumental in correcting her flat foot, which can be a major hindrance to any gymnast. He also oversees her training, as she works tirelessly to successfully land one of the most dangerous vaults in world sport - the Produnova. Till date, only 4 other women in the world have successfully landed this vault in competition.
L-R Bishweshwar Nandi with his ward Dipa Karmakar
Dipa’s star has been on the ascendancy for a while now. She pulled off a successful Produnova at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 to bag the bronze medal and followed it up with a fourth-place finish at the Asian Games. The 2015 Arjuna Awardee narrowly missed out on an Olympic berth at the World Championships, where she placed a commendable fifth in Vault at the finals - a feat which led to her being named as one of the entrants to the current Test event in Rio de Janeiro. At Glasgow, she also became the first Indian Gymnast to reach the finals of a World Championship event.
Dipa was picked as one of the 19 athletes to receive support under the Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship Programme in July last year, and we at the GoSports Foundation are proud to be a part of her journey, and hope to support this phenomenal talent to the top steps of the podium at the biggest events in world sport.