Dipa Karmakar

Dipa Karmakar
 Gymnast 
Full name Dipa Karmakar
Country represented India
Born (1993-08-09) 9 August 1993[1]
Agartala, Tripura, India
Hometown Agartala, Tripura
Height 4 ft 11 in (150 cm)
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
Level Senior International Elite
Head coach(es) Bisweshwar Nandi

Dipa Karmakar (born 9 August 1993)[1] is an artistic gymnast who represented India at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She is the first Indian female gymnast ever to compete in the Olympics,[2][3] and the first Indian gymnast to do so in 52 years.[4] She attained 4th position in Women's Vault Gymnastics event of Rio Olympics 2016 with an overall score of 15.066.[5]

She first gained attention when she won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow,[6] becoming the first Indian female gymnast to do so in the history of the Games.[7] She is being supported by the GoSports Foundation under the Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship Programme.[8]

Karmakar is one of the only five women who have successfully landed the Produnova, which is regarded as the most difficult vault currently performed in women's gymnastics.[9] She also won a bronze medal at the Asian Gymnastics Championships and finished fifth at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, both firsts for her country.

On April 2016, Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify on for the Olympics and the first gymnast of either sex from her country to grace the Games since Tokyo 1964. For her commendable performance in Rio Olympics 2016, the Government of India conferred upon her the Khel Ratna award in August 2016 [10]

Early life and career

Karmakar, hailing from Agartala in Tripura started practicing gymnastics when she was 6 years old and has been coached by Soma Nandi & Bisweshwar Nandi since.[11][12]

When she began gymnastics, Karmakar had flat feet, an undesirable physical trait in a gymnast because it affects their performance. Through extensive training, she was able to develop an arch in her foot.[13]

In 2008, she won the Junior Nationals in Jalpaiguri. Since 2007, Karmakar has won 77 medals, including 67 gold, in state, national and international championships.[14] She was part of the Indian gymnastics contingent at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where Ashish Kumar won India's first-ever Commonwealth Games gymnastics medal.

Senior career

2011

In February, Karmakar competed in the 2011 National Games of India, representing Tripura. She won gold medals in the all-around and all four events: floor, vault, balance beam and uneven bars.[15][16]

2014

In July, at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Karmakar won a bronze medal in the women's vault final, thanks largely to her Produnova vault, which has a difficulty value of 7.00. She received an average two-vault score of 14.366.[17] She was the first Indian woman to win a Commonwealth Games gymnastics medal, and the second Indian overall, after Ashish Kumar.[18]

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. After the competition, she said, "See, the two top girls here are the gold and silver medalists in the Olympics, while the third girl was bronze winner at the World Championships. So I'm more than happy that I gave them a good fight and finished fourth here."[19]

2015

At the Asian Championships, held in Hiroshima from July 31–August 2, Karmakar won the bronze in women's vault while finishing 8th on balance beam.[20]

In October 2015, Karmakar became the first Indian gymnast to qualify for a final stage at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.[21] She scored 14.900 on vault in the qualification round[22] to secure her place for the finals, where she finished 5th with a two-vault average of 14.683.

2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

Round Rank Total Score 1 Difficulty Execution Penalty Score 2 Difficulty Execution Penalty
Qualification 7 14.900 15.100 7.000 8.100 0.00 14.700 6.000 8.700 0.00
Final 5 14.683 15.300 7.000 8.300 0.00 14.066 6.000 8.366 -0.300

2016: Rio Olympics

On 10 August 2016 at the 2016 Olympic Test Event, Karmakar became the first female gymnast from India to qualify for the final vault event at the Olympics, with a score of 14.833. She narrowly missed out in the bronze medal, finishing 4th in the finals of the event with a score of 15.066 on 14 August 2016 at the Gymnastics Center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[23][24]

Karmakar is only the fifth woman in gymnastics history to land the Produnova vault, or the handspring double front. The Produnova is an artistic gymnastics vault consisting of a front handspring onto the vaulting horse and two front somersaults off. The vault currently has a 7.0 D-score, and is the hardest vault performed in women's artistic gymnastics. In the Olympics women's vault gymnastics final she finished at 4th position.[25]

Sajad Ahmad, Karmakar's physical therapist, was rushed to Rio to keep her in optimum shape only after she qualified for the finals. Her earlier request for his presence was deemed wasteful.[26]

Schedule and 2016 Olympics results

Events Women's floor exercise Women's beam Women's vault Women's individual all-around Women's vault
Rank 75 65 8 51 4
Point 12.033 12.866 14.850 51.665 15.066
Status Completed Completed Completed Completed Completed
Results Qualification Qualification Qualification Qualification Final.and etc

References

  1. 1 2 Glasgow 2014 - Dipa KARMAKAR Profile
  2. "Dipa Karmakar becomes 1st Indian woman gymnast to qualify for Rio Olympics". The Economic Times. Press Trust of India. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  3. Naik, Shivani (18 Apr 2016). "Dipa Karmakar becomes first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for Olympics". The times of india. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  4. Datta, Sekhar. "Meet Dipa Karmakar first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for Rio Olympics". ABP Live. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  5. Simone Biles of USA wins Gold in Women's Vault Gymnastics
  6. Naik, Shivani (24 August 2014). "After a flight, a landing: Why Dipa Karmakar's medal in Commonwealth Games is its bravest bronze". The Indian Express. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  7. "Glasgow 2014 - Dipa Karmakar profile". Glasgow 2014 Ltd. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  8. "GoSports Foundation".
  9. "2014 Commonwealth Games Vault Final Dipa Karmakar 2nd Vault". Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  10. Karmakar blazes the Olympic trail for Indian gymnastics - Olympic News
  11. "Agartala takes pride in Dipa's achievement". The Hindu. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  12. "From being flat-footed to 77 career medals: 10 interesting facts about Dipa Karmakar". Firstpost. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  13. "Meet Dipa Karmakar: From a flat-footed 6-year-old to India's star woman gymnast". 18 April 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  14. "Tripura's Dipa Karmakar says she is aiming for an Olympic Medal". BDNews24. 6 November 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  15. Sabanayakan, S (21 February 2011). "Dipa Karmakar rules in gymnastics". The Hindu. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  16. "Tripura's Dipa Karmakar rules in gymnastics". ANI News. 29 March 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  17. "Gymnastics Artistic Women's Vault Final". Glasgow 2014. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  18. "Dipa Karmakar's historical win". 2014 Glasgow. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  19. "Popping painkillers, Dipa Karmakar comes painstakingly close to winning medal". DNA India. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  20. "Dipa Karmakar Brings Glory to India with a Bronze at 2015 Artistic Asian Gymnastics Championships". 2015 Hiroshima. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  21. "Young gymnast Dipa Karmakar makes history, becomes first Indian to qualify for World Championships finals". Zee News. Retrieved 2015-10-28.
  22. "Results - 2015 World Gymnastics Championships". www.2015worldgymnastics.com. Retrieved 2015-10-28.
  23. "Rio Games: Dipa Karmakar qualifies for vault finals in Olympics". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-08-10
  24. "And that's how Dipa won!". The Hindu. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  25. "Dipa Karmakar Physio request for Rio". Indian Express. 14 August 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.