Dipa Karmakar

Dipa Karmakar is an Indian woman gymnast born on 9th August 1993. She hails from the Agartala district of Tripura. Dipa specializes in artistic gymnastics and represents India internationally in that discipline.

Background

Dipa Karmakar was born to Dulal Karmakar and Dulal Karmakar. She comes from a humble family background. Her father is a weightlifting coach at Sports Authority of India and her mother is a housewife. She also has a sister Puja Karmakar.

Dipa started practicing gymnastics at the young age of 6 when Bishweshwar and Soma Nandi took her under their wings. During the initial training, the coach noticed that she had flat feet, which isn’t good for any aspiring gymnast as it would affect the performance. Bishweshwar helped Dipa to develop arched feet through extensive training. Bishweshwar’s wife Soma saw potential in Dipa as a gymnast. Dipa has been guided by a husband-wife duo for two decades now.

Dipa completed her school education at Abhoynagar Nazrul Smriti Vidyalaya. She holds a Master's degree in Political Science. In 2017, She was conferred with D.Litt (Doctor of Literature) at the National Institute of Technology in Agartala.

Rise to Glory

Dipa Karmakar received proper training from her coach Bishweshwar but didn’t have an adequate amount of gym equipment for her to practice. Despite this, she got the first breakthrough in her career by winning the Junior Nationals in 2008. She had also won a Gold medal in State Junior Championships in 2007.

In 2011, she became the household name in Tripura when she swept 5 Gold medals respectively in all-round, floor, vault, balance beam, and uneven bars at the National Games in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

Between 2007 and 2020, Dipa Karmakar accumulated 77 medals including 67 Gold medals that she had won in the state, national and international competitions.

Dipa is the recipient of the Padma Shri and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.

Major Achievements

Dipa Karmakar made her international debut at the age of 16 when she competed at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and reached the final of the vault event.

In 2014, at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Dipa created history by becoming the first Indian woman gymnast to win a Commonwealth Games medal, clinching the Bronze medal in the Vault event with an average two-vault score of 14.366. Later that year, she competed in the Asian Games and finished 4th in the Vault final with a score of 14.200.

In August 2015, Dipa won the Bronze medal in the Women’s Vault final and finished 8th on Balance Beam at the Asian Gymnastics Championships in Hiroshima, Japan. In October, she reached the final of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships after scoring 14.900 in the qualification round but finished 5th in the final with an average two-vault score of 14.683.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Dipa Karmakar broke into the limelight when she became the first Indian gymnast to reach the final of the vault event, where she fell short of a Bronze medal by finishing 4th with a score of 15.066. Also, she became the fifth woman in the history of gymnastics to land the Produnova vault.

In July 2018, Dipa won her first international Gold medal in the Vault final at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup in Mersin, Turkey and as a result, she became the first Indian gymnast to win a Gold medal at an international event.

Dipa Karmakar is looking to secure her berth at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics through Olympics qualification tournaments.