Gymnastics
After missing out on Tokyo Olympics, Dipa Karmakar is set to return at gymnastics national camp
India's most decorated gymnast Dipa Karmakar will be finally back in action and set sights on big tournaments ahead as the national camp for gymnastics is set to kickstart on September 8.
India's most decorated gymnast Dipa Karmakar will be finally back in action and set sights on big tournaments ahead as the national camp for gymnastics is set to kickstart on September 8.
Along with Dipa, three other female gymnasts from Tripura will be taking part in the camp to be held in Delhi This is for the first time in the history that four Tripura gymnasts will be taking part in the camp together. Incidentally, all of them are pupils of coach Bisweswar Nandi.
In an interview with ANI, Dipa said, "After a long time, our national camp is going to start from Sept 8 and will last till October 17. In between, there will be trials for World Championships and South Asian Championships. After a long time, we will get to experience a camp and seniors will also be there. We are 16-members and of them, 4 are from Tripura we all train under Bisweswar Nandi sir, I am feeling very good, I just wish to give my best performance and I urge everyone to pray for us."
The national camp will also be responsible for the selection of gymnasts for the 2021 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships to be held in Kitakyushu, Japan and the South Asian Championship.
On Monday Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb felicitated all four selected gymnasts which included Olympian gymnast Dipa Karmakar and her juniors Ashmita Paul, Priyanka Dasgupta, Pratistha Samanta.
Dipa Karmakar rose to prominence after creating history at the Rio 2016 Olympics, where she finished just outside the podium and became only the fifth woman in the history of gymnastics to successfully land the Produnova Vault, which is also known as the 'vault of death.'
The performance at Rio made her an overnight sensation in the country, and she was honoured with India's highest sporting award – Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the country's fourth-highest civilian award, Padma Shri. Such was the impact of her show at the Rio Olympics that suddenly, the sport of gymnastics was synonymous with Dipa Karmakar in India.
However, Dipa Karmakar, could not take part in Tokyo 2020 Games.
The 27-year-old failed to qualify for the 2020 Olympics because of constant injuries and the coronavirus pandemic, which made her miss major competitions.
