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Dipa Karmakar becomes first Indian gymnast to win gold at Asian Senior Championships
The 30-year-old played splendidly at the games held in Tashkent on May.26.
Dipa Karmakar (R) with her coach at the Asian Senior Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. / X/@DipaKarmakar
India's Dipa Karmakar became the first gymnast from the country to win gold at the Asian Senior Championships after finishing first in the women's vault event on May.26.
Posting an average of 13.566 in the vault final, the 30-year-old from Tripura finished ahead of North Koreans Kim Son Hyang (13.466) and Jo Kyong Byol (12.966) on the last day of competitions at the tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Indian entrepreneur Anand Mahindra also congratulated Karmakar in a post on X, where he wrote "And more Monday Motivation. Just back in March, Dipa Karmakar was talking about her injury & the hurdles she had to cross. It was the love for the sport, she said, which kept her going. And yesterday she became the first Indian gymnast to win at the prestigious Asian championship, topping the podium in women’s vault. Keep Rising, Dipa."
Indians before had only won bronze at the event, with Ashish Kumar ending third in individual floor exercise at the 2015 edition, and Pranati Nayak getting a third-place finished twice in vault, in 2019 and 2022.
Karmakar herself posted on X snippets from her journey at the championships and said that the love for the sport of gymnastics never deterred her from the challenges it sometimes brought.
In 2019, my participation in the World Cup in Baku had led to a career threatening injury. Post which, there were many battles fought and many hurdles crossed. However, the love for the sport never deterred me. #Paris2024 #FIGWorldCup #Baku pic.twitter.com/4MM59L4jhg
— Dipa Karmakar (@DipaKarmakar) March 11, 2024
Karmakar, who returned to sporting action in 2023 after serving a 21-month suspension for a doping offense, is out of contention for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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