India’s First Female Gymnast to Qualify for Olympics

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At 22 years old, Dipa Karmakar made the world take notice, by being the first Indian female gymnast to qualify for the Olympics, to be held in Rio. She is the first Indian gymnast, irrespective of gender, to qualify for the Olympics in the last 52 years! India has not been participating in Olympic gymnastic events since six male gymnasts competed in 1964 in Tokyo.

Dipa Karmakar had already created history by being the first Indian female gymnast to win the bronze at the Commonwealth Games, which took place in 2014 in Glasglow. Hailing from Tripura, she is one of the five people in the world who can perfectly pull off the Produnova vault, also called the ‘vault of death’. She scored strong points amongst 14 competitors in Produnova.

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She garnered praise from Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, who says, “A daughter of India brought fame to the country at the Rio Olympics. These incidents set examples and give us strength.” and even Shah Rukh Khan, “Finally our own Nadia Comaneci (a former Romanian gymnast). Dipa Karmakar you are the pride of our Nation. Your achievements inspire us. Thanks little one.”

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