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On this day in 2016, Dipa Karmakar qualified for the Olympics final at Rio

On this day in 2016, Dipa Karmakar qualified for the Olympics final at Rio
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The Bridge Desk

Published: 8 Aug 2020 5:52 AM GMT

On this day in 2016, Dipa Karmakar scripted history as she became the first Indian to make the cut for the individual vault finals in her debut Olympic Games after finishing 8th in the qualifying round here. She became India’s first female medallist in gymnastics in Commonwealth Games of 2014 held in Glasgow. She is a Padma Shri recipient and received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award for her efforts in Rio 2016 Olympics.

Born on 9th August 1993, she started young in gymnastics at the age of 6. Being flat footed, she underwent extensive training to develop an arch which would have otherwise hindered her performance. Since then she hasn’t stopped and has won a total of 77 medals in competitions held in the country and abroad.

The Tripura-girl, who is the country's first woman gymnast to qualify for the Olympics, managed to perform her much-appreciated ' Produnova ' vault cleanly to secure 14.850 points after two attempts. It was a nervous wait for the Indian after that. She had ended sixth after the third of five sub-divisions.

She dropped to 8th eventually when Canadian Shallon Olsen's terrific effort of 14.950 rejigged the overall standings.

But that was just about enough to secure her a place in the finals scheduled for August 14 as the top-8 made the cut for the medal round.

Dipa secured 7.000 on difficulty and 8.1 on execution in her first attempt. Her score for difficulty was a tad lower at 6.000 in the second attempt.

She landed low on her Produnova vault in the first attempt, while her second vault was a 'Tsuk double full twist' with step to the side.

Three-time world all-round champion Simone Biles topped the charts with a sensational score of 16.050. The American scored a brilliant 9.700 on execution in both her attempts.

North Korea's Jong Un Hong was a distant second after securing 15.683 followed by Switzerland's Giulia Steingruber (15.266).

In the other routines, Dipa secured 11.666 for her effort on the uneven bars, scoring low on difficulty but decent on execution. Later, Dipa scored 12.866 for her performance on the balance beam.

The floor exercise fetched Dipa a score of 12.033, which also included a 0.300 penalty.

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