Dipa Karmakar will become the first Indian woman to compete in an Olympic gymnastics competition. (AFP Photo)
Highlights
- PM acknowledges 22-year-old gymnast, says she has made India proud
- Ms Karmakar qualified over weekend for Rio Olympics
- Ms Karmakar belongs to Agartala
, who will become the first Indian woman to compete in an Olympic gymnastics competition, got a shout-out from Prime Minister Narendra Modi today.
"Just yesterday, a daughter of India brought fame to the country at the Rio Olympics," the PM said in a speech to students at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University in Jammu, referring to the qualifying event held this weekend that allows Ms Karmakar to claim her place at the Olympics.
"These incidents set examples, give us strength," the PM said.
Despite gymnastics receiving little funding in India, Ms Karmakar, a Commonwealth and Asian Games medallist gathered a total score of 52.698 points in the final artistic gymnastics qualifying event in Rio. "Great feeling to stand on podium. Will try my best in Rio," she said to NDTV today.
Dipa Karmakar clinched the gold in vaults finals at the test event of the Rio Games.
India has been absent from Olympic gymnastics events since 1964 when six male athletes competed. There was no qualification system in place at that time.
At the world championships in Glasgow last November, Ms Karmakar, who is from Agartala, became the first Indian to qualify for an apparatus final, where she finished fifth on the vault.
The 22-year-old raised eyebrows by attempting a vault with the highest difficulty (7.000) among all the finalists in Glasgow.
However, her attempt at the Produnova vault -- a front handspring into double front somersault -- failed to come off cleanly as her bottom touched the mat before she bounced back onto her feet.
After the event at Glasgow late last year, Ms Karmakar said, "My coach (Bisweshwar Nandi) was frightened when I first started doing the vault because he thought I could break my neck or end up dead but I was eager to try and push the boundaries."
Such has been her dedication in trying to perfect the Produnova vault, that she decided to note down her attempts for one week in a diary she keeps. The final tally? 127 vaults.