Dipak Karmakar has become the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for Olympics as she booked a berth for the Rio Games as India gained entry into Gymnastics after 52 years. 20 year old, Dipa Karmakar created history for India in Gymnastics on July 31st. She became the first Indian women Gymnast to win a medal at a major international competition. After Ashish Kumar, who won medals in 2010 Commonwealth Games, she is the second Indian to win such a medal in Gymnastics. She wonhttps://newschoupal.com/2014/08/01/dipa-karmakar-the-girl-from-agartala-who-rewrote-indian-gymnastic-history/ the Women’s Vault Bronze medal. Interestingly, in the 215 member Indian contingents at Glasgow, the Golden Girl from Tripura is the only athlete from her state. With Ashish, now Dipa can help create the Gymnastics revolution in India. The International Gymnastics Federation has acknowledged her exceptional effort by naming her as a World Class Gymnast in July 2016.
Dipa in 2016 Olympics
Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014: List of Medal Winners of India
Dipa Karmakar is known for Produnova vault, known as the Everest of Gymnastics, mastered by only five gymnasts in the world and named after the Russian gymnast.
She also won a bronze at the Asian Gymnastics Championships and finished fifth at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships both a first for her country. In October 2015, Dipa became the first ever Indian to qualify for the final stage of the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.[14] She scored 14.900[15] in the qualification round to secure her place for the final round, where she finished 5th. In the final, she scored a total of 14.683 to rank 5th.
At the 2014 Asian Games, Karmakar finished fourth in the vault final with a score of 14.200 behind Hong Un-jong, Oksana Chusovitina, and Phan Thị Hà Thanh.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Her Bronze medal win was not only a show of skill but also a great psychological strength as in two vaults, she came last in the first vault. Still, instead of feeling low and down, she kept confidence in her self-belief and skill, and created history in the second vault.
She hails from a family that knows the value of Sports. SHe is the daughter of weighlifting coach of Sports Authority of India, Dulal Karmakar. She has also participated on Commonwealth Games 2010.
How She Won Bronze Medal in Women’s Vault
On 31st July, she contested against 7 opponents, two from England and Canada each, one each from South Africa, Australia and hosts Scotland. The Vault had 2 sessions of Vault 1 and Vault 2.
Vault 1
- She could score only 13.633 which was the lowest among all 8 participants.
Vault 2
- Her 15.100 was the highest among all, .600 more than the second best of Vault 2, Fragapane of England who eventually won the Gold medal.
Total
- Total score of 14.366 got her the Bronze medal behind Fragapane of England (14.633) and Black of Canada (14.433).
Participation at Other Events of Glasgow 2014
- Women’s All-Around Final: Finished 22nd among 24 participants.
Women’s AA Final – Subdivision 1
Women’s Team Final: Rank 11
Women’s Team Final and Ind. QF-Subdiv. 5
History
The unknown girl from Agartala, Tripura got famous in the 2011 National Games of India where she represented her state, Tripura. She won five Gold medals. She won in Floor, Vault, All Round, Balance beam and Uneven Bars.
2010 CWG at Delhi
- Vault: Finished 7th
Team all-around: Finished 8th (last)
She has also tried for 2013 Antwerp worlds qualification.
Watch the video of her Vault in 2010 CWG
At the Commonwealth Invitational held in April, 2014 to provide a practice paltform in preparation to Glasgow 2014, Dipa Karmakar was the winner. With a score of 14.2 (5.00) and 13.8 (5.2D) she got a 14.0 average.
Watch her perform in the Invitational
Indian fans will hope for more success for her, and more gymnasts to get inspired from her, and Ashish Kumar.
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