Dipa Karmakar, a 23-year-old hailing from Agartala in Tripura, a small state of the northeast region, is the first Indian female gymnast to qualify for the Olympics and first entry for India ever since 1964.
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| Credit: AP |
The Northeast lady fought against all odds to win the heart of billions, indeed she was just an ordinary lady before the Rio Olympic started. She wasn’t new to the Indian industry so called “Sports Athletes”. She qualified on April 18th, 2016 and became the 1st ever Indian lady gymnast to qualify for an Olympics after she entered the final of a Test event at Rio De Janerio with a score of 52.698. She earned her ticket to go to Rio and a chance to win the Rio Olympics.
Dipa not only wrote history for herself, but also for her state and the entire Northeast region as a whole, she also proved that nothing is impossible when it comes to sheer of hard work and commitment. She also set a reminder to the nation that Northeast can produce a quality sportsperson if they were trained well enough with better facilities.
Before the Olympic, she was rarely known to people except in Tripura, nobody would even bother or hear the name Dipa Karmakar until she made to the final after finishing 8th in the qualifying round a score of 52.698 points. This year India has fielded its largest-ever contingent at the Olympic Games in Rio with a total of 118 and was even expecting double digits in the medals.
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| Credit: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/thumb/msid-53701974,width-400,resizemode-4/53701974.jpg |
But the disappointment of the Indian Olympics in Rio vows out, as the shooter, the archers, and the athletes got knockout easily. Even the big names like Leander Peas, Saina, Abhinav couldn’t win a medal for India, one after the other, the Indian Olympics athletics failed. Out of nowhere, Dipa became the centre attraction for India, made headlines in the entire country.
She became a Gandhian to break all the taboos from a Hindu to a Muslim to a Christian. They came together to support and watched Dipa final wherever they are. All eyes were set on her during the eve of Independence Day, for the girl to win a medal for India in the final round of the gymnastic. Dipa became the only hope of the nation as India looked to celebrate its 70th Independence Day.
But during the final, as she stood up on the stage, we could see her nervousness, the burden, the shame, the agony, the pain she was carrying all for India to win a medal on day 9.
She performed
Produnova vault (vault of death) that was renamed after Russian gymnast Yelena Produnova in order to make sure that she gets a medal home. Yes, she perfected the move but her landing was not good enough and ended up with a total score of 15.066 that put her in the second spot temporarily for some time. But sadly Russia's Maria Paseka and USA's Simone Biles pull her down to fourth. She indeed narrowly missing out on India's first medal in this edition.
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| Dipa performing produnova vault Credit: http://data1.ibtimes.co.in/cache-img-0-450/en/full/605172/1461061377_dipa-karmakar.jpg |
Yet this was not much bitter as the medal drought continues for India in Rio.
After the event, Karmakar told the media person from India: “My target is gold for life.” She continues to dream for gold at the next Olympics.
After the event, Abhinav Bindra tweeted “Dipa Karmakar, you are my hero". "Thank you #DipaKarmakar for getting us united at midnight cheering for Gymnastics, in a country with no infrastructure for this sport," said cricketer Virender Sehwag. "Super proud".
Virender event requested Modi to consider a special plane or train after her name.
“I would request Hon’ble PM Narendra Modiji to consider naming a special plane & a train after these two young athletes (even if it is a special for a few days and at the cost of not causing confusion) which in a way will encourage parents and inspire many youngsters to take up less popular sports as a career,” Virender Sehwag tweeted.
Her new chapter has just begun as she continues to inspire young people of her age to kept dreaming about what they want to do in life.
Adding to the climax of the story even relates to Mary Kom, a mother and a boxer who was a five-time champion but was never under the radar of mainstream media until London Olympics where she won a bronze medal and got promoted eventually.
This tale isn’t just the end for Northeast or India in gearing up athletes; India has its potential but has borne no fruits. The story continues on and on as we move on.
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