Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the tributes on Monday for gymnast Dipa Karmakar, who bagged India’s first ever gold medal in a global gymnastic event.
Karmakar, who participated in her first international competition since narrowly missing an Olympic medal in 2016, won the women’s vault at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup in Mersin, Turkey, on Sunday.
The 24-year-old had recovered from a career-threatening knee injury suffered last year as her average score of 14.150 edged out Indonesia’s Rifda Irfanaluthfi (13.400).
“More than the gold, what was important for me was to perform at the optimum level. I am happy I could do that considering the fact at the beginning of the year, I was hobbling back to fitness,” Karmakar was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times newspaper.
“Getting back into top gear makes me believe that my knee has healed completely and I should now be able to go all out at the Asian Games,” she added.
The Asian Games take place in Indonesia from August 18 to September 2. Karmakar was initially confident of making a comeback at the Commonwealth Games but rehabilitation took more time than expected and she missed the Gold Coast event. She has been included in the 10-member Indian gymnastics team for the upcoming Asian Games.
Modi was among several politicians and celebrities who took to Twitter to congratulate Karmakar for her achievement. The prime minister wrote:
Sports minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, who won silver in the 2004 Olympics, also praised the champion gymnast.
Here are some of the other congratulatory messages Karmakar received on Twitter:
Karmakar though is still some distance away from the dangerous “Produnova Vault” that got her bronze in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
Named after Russian gymnast Yelena Produnova, the “Vault of Death” as it is nicknamed was first introduced in 1999, but is so dangerous some want it banned.
It involves a handspring double-front somersault, and has one of the highest degrees of difficulty rating a seven, but only a handful of gymnasts have attempted it in competition.
With inputs from AFP
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