The tender age of 5 when kids play with the soft toys, Deepa was practicing vault Gymnastics. She had flat feet which are considered a big hurdle in the field of gymnastics but she worked extremely hard with her coach Mr Biswaswar Nandi to bring the curve in her flat feet. The wonder girl of Indian Gymnastics was born on 9 August in 1993. She is the first Indian female gymnast who competed in the Olympic and attained 4th position in Women’s Vault Gymnastics event of Rio Olympics 2016. She is the Indian path breaker in gymnastics and will be the reason for our nation’s rise in this discipline in future. She had suffered an Anterior Cruciate ligament (ACL) injury after the Rio Olympic and she had undergone surgery.
With no financial support or training facilities to practice gymnastics in the state of Tripura, Dipa made it to the Rio Olympics after long years of waiting patiently. Given the high risk of injuries in a sport like gymnastics, Dipa had requested the Sports Authority of India to allow her to travel with her physio Sajad Ahmad, but it was bluntly refused. Authorities even taunted as to why she needed a physio since she was the only gymnast travelling from India.
Her practice ground in Tripura used to get flooded very often but she still used to practice wherever she could.
She is the first Indian who gained the attention when she won a bronze medal at 2014 commonwealth games in Glasgow, and the first Indian female gymnast to do so in the history of the Games. She is being supported by the GoSports foundation under the Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship programme.
Dipa has won 77 medals in international and national level championships, including 67 golds at state-level championship. Deepa began her professional journey as a gymnast in 2007, but it took her an Olympic medal to be noticed by all.
She is recipient of Padma Shri Award, the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India.
This Indian chhori is one of the only five women who successfully landed the Produnova, which is regarded as the most difficult vault currently performed in women gymnastics.
She has just won the Gold medal in Vault Event in Gymnastic world challenge cup 2018 in Turkey.
Dipa karmakar has set the benchmark for all the chhori’s. She is only 4 feet 11 inches tall but she is a big powerhouse.
Dipa Karmakar is the inspiration for all the chhories of India and even the world. India is very proud of you Dipa karmakar!