Dipa Karmakar is back and that too with a bang. After remaining out of action for almost two years due to injury, the Indian ace gymnast clinched the gold medal in the vault event of Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup at Mersin in Turkey. Dipa scored 14.150 to win gold. She had topped the qualification as well, recording a score of 13.400. This is also Karmakar’s first medal in a World Challenge Cup.
The 24-year-old from Tripura, who had finished fourth in vault event in the 2016 Rio Olympics, also qualified in balance beam finals by finishing third in the qualification with a score of 11.850. Dipa is acompanied to Turkey by her mentor Bisheshwar Nandi. Dipa had suffered an Anetrior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury after the Rio Olympics and had undergone surgery. Initially she thought of making a comeback at the Commonwealth Games but rehabilitation took more time than expected. She had to miss the Gold Coast event but took the World Challenge Cup as her return platform. She is now set to participate in the upcoming Asian Games to be held in July 2018.
