'Current Indian gymnasts lack passion': Olympian Dipa Karmakar

Star Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar who just announced her retirement believes that the current generation of gymnasts lack the passion to excel on the global stage.

Dipa became the first Indian woman gymnast to compete at the Olympics and finished a historic fourth in the 2016 Rio Games.

"There was junoon (passion) in Dipa, that is why. Same for Pranati," she said when asked why there is only one Dipa or Pranati Nayak among Indian women gymnasts winning medals on the international stage.

"I can't see thJunoonoon (passion) much in the current generation (of gymnasts). I feel they look for short-term, instant success," she said on Friday night during a panel discussion at an event titled 'Beyond the Finish Line', organized by Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon.

The diminutive 31-year-old from Tripura grabbed headlines with her fourth-place finish in the vault final of the 2016 Rio Games, losing an Olympic medal by just 0.15 points.

Tokyo Olympian Pranati has won a vault bronze medal each in the 2019 and 2022 Asian Championships.

Hailing from Agartala, Dipa is one of only five women in gymnastics history to have successfully executed the Produnova, which involves two somersaults before landing and is called the 'vault of death' owing to the high risk of injury it poses.

She felt that the problems plaguing the national federation for some time have also not helped the cause of Indian gymnastics.

"There was a problem between the SAI and the federation. For example, the selection criteria for the last Asian Games (2023) were known only after the actual trials.

"I want to bring changes in Indian gymnastics so that this kind of problem does not happen in the future, but I can't do this alone," she said when asked about her plans.

While announcing her retirement, Dipa had said that she would give back to the sport by becoming a coach at some point in her life or she might simply remain a "supporter of the next generation of gymnasts following their dreams".