Gymnastics: Dipa Karmakar to participate in twin World Cups in March, to continue training for Produnova after

Dipa Karmakar burst into the forefront after a splendid fourth-place finish at the Rio 2016 Olympics but her career since has been difficult owing to an injury. However, she made a comeback at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Cottbus, Germany in November, last year, where Dipa had claimed a bronze at the vault event. This made her Olympic claim stronger. However, taking absolutely no risks and further consolidating her route to 2020, reports have now emerged that the ace gymnast will be participating in both the World Cups at Baku (March 14-17) and Doha (March 20-23) in the next month. PTI also

reports that once Doha is done and dusted with, she will carry on training for the Produnova Vault which had become her signature move in the Olympic in Rio. She was forced to dump the routine in 2017 after her career threatening knee injury. “Produnova needs 3-4 months of continuous training which has not been possible because of the regular qualifying competitions. I have that in mind, and possibly after returning from Doha she will once again work on Prudonova,” Coach Bisheshwar Nandi was quoted as saying by PTI. Talking about her schedule for the next few months, Dipa said, "This time the Olympic Qualifications is through several routes including the World Cups. I wanted to explore all possible routes to increase my chances for the 2020 Olympic Qualifications and my confidence has risen after winning a medal at the World Cup in Germany last year." “I am now ready for the back to back World Cups in Baku and Doha this March. I hope to show up good performance and progress towards the Olympics,” she added. No Indian will be participating in the Melbourne World Cup as was made clear by Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) chief Riyaz Bhati to PTI. “The Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) follows a policy wherein the gymnasts have to request for participation at any International event and based on which registration is done by the Federation. We did not receive any request for the World Cup in Melbourne,” he was quoted as saying.