Dipa Karmakar created history yet again after becoming the first Indian to be named as 'World Class Gymnast' by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique or FIG. In a letter sent by the Secretary General Andre Gueisbuhler to the Gymnastics Federation of India, the same was confirmed today.
Earlier, she became the first female Indian gymnast to qualify for the Games after putting up a strong performance at the test event in Rio. The 22-year-old garnered 52.698 points from that event to book a berth at the biggest show on earth this year.
Romania's Sandra Raluca Izbaa won the gold at the 2012 London Olympics women’s gymnastic vaults final after scoring 15.191, which is only 0.358 more than what Dipa scored in her last competition.
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The Bengali girl from Agartala has proved her skill earlier as well when she clinched a bronze medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Born with a flat foot, Dipa tasted a variety of success. Last year, she became the first Indian to make the finals of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow.
Since 1947, 11 Indian male gymnasts have taken part in Olympics (2 in 1952, 3 in 1956 and 6 in 1964), but this is the first time a woman gymnast has qualified for the Summer Games.
Tripura’s golden girl is indeed an inspiration to all the young generation female athletes of India.
