Dipa Karmakar – first woman gymnast to qualify for Olympics from India. Image Courtesy – Mashable
She was unknown to all even in her country a few days ago. But, she is now in the limelight of sports in India and abroad by booking her place for the Rio de Janerio Olympic Games. Dipa Karmakar, a 22-year-old girl of Agartala, Tripura, has become the first Indian woman artistic gymnast to qualify for the Olympics. Dipa has scored 52.698 in the qualifying round of the Rio de Janerio Olympic in the category of artistic gymnastics.
Dipa already created history by winning a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in the year 2014, while she scored 14.566 along with her second and last tries respectively.
Dipa Karmakar is not only the first Indian woman to qualify for the Olympics, besides she is the 1st Indian gymnast qualifying for the ‘Quadrennial Event’ after 52 years. After India got independence since no female gymnast could participate in the Olympic Games. Only 11 male gymnasts have participated in the Olympic Games – 2 gymnasts in 1952, 3 gymnasts in 1956 and 6 gymnasts in 1964.
In the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships of 2015, she made 14.900 points with a tally. She completed her journey with the fifth position in the final by scoring 14.863 points with a tally.
Dipa’s performance is very much commendable because she was being counted among the five gymnasts who have perfectly finished “Prudonova” – possibly the toughest exercise in the game. Image Courtesy – Mashable
Dipa has been recorded as the 79th gymnastics candidate among individual qualifiers in the rundown of women’s creative acrobat who has acquired the qualifying position for the Rio Olympics.
Her first vault was the much troublesome ‘Produnova’, gave Dipa 15.066 points, the most elevated among the 14 contenders. While a poor show in the uneven bars brought her points down as she gathered 11.700, the second more regrettable among the 14 members. The Tripura girl secured 13.366 and 12.566 points in bar and floor exercises respectively. An international referee, Deepak Kagra, stated that Dipa’s performance was so strong that it was nearly confirmed that she would qualify for the Rio Olympics.
Dipa’s performance is very much commendable because she was being counted among the five gymnasts who have perfectly finished “Prudonova” – possibly the toughest exercise in the game. This exercise includes a ‘front handspring’, ‘2 front somersaults’ and ultimately the final frontier for proving a gymnast’s brilliance. She could overcome all the challenges, and she became the top scorer on “Produnova” in the world. She got 15.100 – 7.000 for achieving difficulty, 8.100 for accomplishment and 0.1 as penalty according to the artistic gymnastics rule.
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Dipa’s news of success started celebration here in the place where she grew up in Abhay Nagar celebrating with firecrackers. “We would have really brought out a parade with her garlanded photo however today is Tripura bandh, so we have commended just with firecrackers; the parade will be sorted out after she returns home,” Mr B K Chakraborty, secretary of Abhay Nagar Boys Club, said on Monday. Chakraborty reviewed how Dipa was started into ‘gymnastics’ at the age of six years. “The underlying obstacle that she needed to cross was her ‘flat foot’, which confined her springing activity, which was a basic requirement to be a gymnast. But, whatever be her obstacle, her coach Mr Bishweshwar Nandi step by step prepared her through practice,” Mr Chakraborty said.
Within a few hours after her success, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) enlisted her name into the government initiative scheme, named “Target Olympic Podium” (TOP) to sponsor prospective sportspersons in their training for the Olympic Games.
We also feel proud of Dipa’s performance and wish her grand success in the Olympic Games.
