In an Olympic edition which is yet to offer any medals to India, Dipa Karmakar’s vault to become India's most successful gymnast has captured the nation’s imagination. A nail-biting fourth placed finish highlighted how far the 23-year old gymnast has come in just two years time. However, not a lot of people know that she entered the final with an elbow injury. Dipa’s physio Mir Sajid confirmed that she picked up a knock during training yesterday.
Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda from outside the Games village, he said, “Gymnastics is probably the most injury prone sport in the world. The number of injjuries Dipa has played with is mind boggling. Her ankle injury is something we know about, but even in general the number of knocks people pick up in general is very high. In fact, a day before the final, she picked up an elbow injury. Although it was a minor one, we did get scared. There were some muscle exercises I asked her to do, but it was something Dipa is used too, playing with injury.”
Dipa’s coach Bisheshwar Nandi also confirmed that she picked up a knock. He added, “She was practicing the high intense Produnova and she hurt her elbow, we applied ice packs and all, but it didn’t work. Sajid used some muscle release exercises because he thought it had contracted. It was fine then, but when she began her practice routing today it was hurting a bit. But, Dipa is a fighter such small injuries she is easily able to deal with.”
With a score of 15.066, this is the first time she has ever crossed the elusive 15 average mark. Dipa added, “In Gymnastics, these kind of injuries are common, I have a good physio who knows how to deal with these kind of problems right now. So I was finding no problem, it was a slight niggle for me which got fine as I began my vaulting. Gymnastics is that kind of sport, you can't help it.”
Dipa will now play tournaments in Austria and Hungary later this year, in an attempt to become a stalwart in the 15 score mark.
