Dipa Karmakar Wins Gold Post Rio Qualification, Eyes Olympic Medal

Dipa defeated 2008 Olympic silver medallist Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan in the final.

Dipa Karmakar on the podium after bagging the Gold medal in the vault event (Photo: Facebook)

After becoming the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for the Olympics, Dipa Karmakar has set her eyes on a podium finish at the Rio Games in August this year.

The 22-year-old garnered a total score of 52.698 points in the Olympics qualifying event yesterday to book a berth for artistic gymnastics in Rio Games.

“It is a good feeling to win a gold medal,” Dipa was quoted as saying at the official facebook page of the International Federation of Gymnastics.

“My next objective is an Olympic medal podium,” she said after clinching the gold in vaults finals at the test event of the Rio Games yesterday.

File image of gymnast Dipa Karmakar at Tripura returning from World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow where she finishes fifth on Nov. 5, 2015. (Photo: IANS)

The Tripura girl scored 14.833 as her best effort to finish first in the women’s vaults finals at the Rio Olympic Arena. She defeated 2008 Olympic silver medallist Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan.

Apart from being the first Indian woman, she will also be an Indian gymnast qualifying for the quadrennial extravaganza after 52 long years.

Since the independence of the country, 11 Indian male gymnast have taken part in the Olympics (two in 1952, three in 1956 and six in 1964) but this will be the first for an Indian woman at the Olympics.

Read also
After Historic Olympic Qualification, Gymnast Dipa Wins Gold
Flat-footed Reluctance to Rio 2016 Ticket: The Dipa Karmakar Story