Dipa Karmakar: A Gritty Gymnast

By Jaswant Claudius
(Senior Sports writer/Commentator)

Time is moving. A human being is born, then after completing the stipulated period of his life, he goes on some unknown journey and then does not return. While living in this world, a human being is known on the basis of his deeds. The one who walks on the right path shows the way to the world. In the life given to him as a human being, a person plays different roles. Some become scientists, some artists, some writers, some politicians, some officers and some become sportswomen. It is noteworthy that no matter what height a human being reaches in any field, one day he has to say goodbye to active talent. The field of sports is like this. You may be a world record holder in your sport but one day you have to say goodbye to the regular world of sports. A similar incident happened in the sports world of our country recently. India’s great gymnast Dipa Karmakar suddenly announced to take rest from active sports. Considering the way Dipa kept herself fit for 20-21 years for a sport like gymnastics and made India proud in various national and international competitions, her sudden decision to withdraw from active participation in this sport is regrettable not only for the gymnasts of Indian sports world but also for the players of any sport. On the other hand, it is also a lesson. The duration of a sportsperson’s sports career can be considered to be from 16 to 35 years. On the other hand, keeping one’s body fit for a long time in gymnastics is a big challenge. Born on 9 August 1993 in Agartala (Tripura), Dipa had taken up gymnastics as her sport at the age of just 6 years. Her parents, seeing her talent in this sport, always encouraged her to move forward.
In India, the interest of this sport in this generation has been less. But the goal of becoming a world-class player in gymnastics always inspired Dipa to practice hard and honestly. To fulfill this goal of Dipa, her coach Bishweshwar Nandi guided her. Finally, at the age of just 15, a bright sports star emerged from the north-eastern state of India when Dipa won the Junior National Championship of Gymnastics held in Jalpaiguri in 2008. Running, concentrating on your mind and brain, maintaining balance with your hands and feet on the bar, then returning back to the ground as per rules while performing acrobatics in the air is not an ordinary activity. It is a matter of good fortune for India and for thousands of budding children, teenagers and youth of this country that through her performance Dipa has done a wonderful job of removing the fear of this sport from the minds of those who choose gymnastics as their career.

But the goal of becoming a world class player in gymnastics always inspired Dipa to practice hard and honestly. To fulfill this goal of Dipa, her coach Bishweshwar Nandi guided her. Finally, at the age of just 15, a bright sports star emerged from the north-eastern state of India when Dipa won the Junior National Championship of Gymnastics held in Jalpaiguri in 2008. Running with concentration on the mind and mind, maintaining balance through hands and feet on the bar, then performing acrobatics in the air and returning back to the ground as per rules is not an ordinary task. It is a matter of good fortune for India and thousands of budding children, teenagers and youth of this country that Dipa did a wonderful job of removing the fear of this sport from the minds of those who adopt a sport like gymnastics as their career through her performance. It is a matter of surprise for the sports world of India that the world level achievement of India in the sport of gymnastics, which has been continuously included in the modern Olympic Games since its inception in 1896, has been achieved by Dipa Karmakar. She has been flying the flag in the world through this sport for the last 14 years. Dipa has won bronze in the Commonwealth Games of Glasgow 2014, bronze and gold in the Asian Championships in 2015, 2024, gold and bronze in the World Cup 2018. Also, she missed a medal in the Rio Olympics 2016 by just 0.15 points. In her sports career, she has won 77 medals including 67 gold in state, national and international championships. In this way, no one should hesitate in calling Dipa Karmakar the greatest player of gymnastics. She had the ability to give an all-round best performance in all the four events of this sport, floor vault, balance, beam and uneven bars. India’s men’s team participated in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. 52 years later, Dipa represented India in Rio. The services of this greatest Indian athlete should be sought by budding gymnasts in the future. Dipa can never be forgotten for making gymnastics popular in India.