A lot has changed in terms of India’s sporting landscape since the turn of this week, since the beginning of the 31st Olympic Games at Rio, and like the rest of the country, the Sports Authority of India too is seemingly just waking up to the existence of Dipa Karmakar. Due to compete in the vault final in artistic gymnastics on Sunday, Dipa’s personal physio Sajad Ahmad Mir is being rushed to Rio’s Olympics Village now.
After the 23-year-old Tripura girl had qualified for the Olympics four months ago, Dipa and her coach Bishweshwar Nandi had requested the Sports ministry and SAI to attach a special physiotherapist with her till the end of the Rio campaign. Though the SAI officially approved the trip, the physiotherapist never accompanied her. Dipa has been so far relying on the physio attached with the Indian contingent.
It is not known yet why the trip was never taken in the first place, but as of Monday, after Dipa Karmakar had taken everybody by surprise by finishing in the top 8 in the qualifiers of her pet event, the Vault, the SAI entered war mode to get Sajad Mir on the first available plane to Rio. Dipa had finally gotten her wish.
None of Dipa Karmakar’s seven competitors for the medals in the Vault event have had to struggle to get a personal physio on board with them. However, Dipa’s entire inconspicuous career is a stark contrast to the likes of Simone Biles, who belongs to a team called ‘The Fierce Five’, a team so celebrated that they have even been given a nickname. Dipa’s name, however, is not so big as to have afforded an aeroplane seat for her physio.
Sports Minister Vijay Goel is in Rio at the moment and he is thought to have had a hand in speeding things up in getting the physio’s trip cleared finally. Dipa and her coach Nandi have always been known to have wanted to have the physio in their team at Rio.
Some other Indian athletes had complained about not being allowed to take along their personal physios to Rio before the 2016 Olympics as well. Badminton player HS Prannoy tweeted about the problem that shows through this last minute rush, of an athlete’s requests not being heeded until a gold medal is days away.
