Dipa Karmakar

Her extraordinary contributions to Indian sports were recognised in 2016 when she was honoured with the Padma Shri and the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna awards

Top Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar on Sunday became the first from the country to win a gold medal in the Asian Senior Championships as she clinched the yellow metal in the women's vault event here. The 30-year-old Dipa secured an average of 13.566 in the vault final on the last day of competitions in Uzbekistan's capital city. North Koreans Kim Son Hyang (13.466) and Jo Kyong Byol (12.966) grabbed the silver and bronze medals respectively. Dipa, who had finished fourth in the vault final at the 2016 Rio Olympics, had won a bronze medal in the same event in the 2015 edition. Ashish Kumar had a won bronze medal in individual floor exercise in 2015 Asian Championships. Pranati Nayak had also bagged a bronze each in vault event in the 2019 and 2022 editions. Dipa, who returned to action last year after a 21-month suspension for a doping offence, is out of contention for the upcoming Paris Olympics.

Indian gymnast Pranati Nayak clinched the bronze medal in the women's vault event at the FIG Apparatus World Cup, a Paris Olympics qualifying event, here on Saturday. The 28-year-old Pranati scored an aggregate of 13.616 points to stand on the podium. Another Indian in the final round, Dipa Karmakar, who had finished fourth in the 2016 Rio Olympics, signed off in the fifth spot in the eight-women final with a score of 13.383. Democratic People's Republic Korea's An Chang-Ok snatched the gold with a score of 14.233 while Bulgarian gymnast Valentina Georgieva took home the silver. She had the same points (13.616) as Pranati but finished ahead of the Indian on technicality. Pranati, thus, became only third Indian woman to win a medal at the FIG World Cup after Aruna Budda Reddy (2018) and Dipa (2018). In the qualification round, Dipa had finished ahead of Pranati. Dipa had scored an aggregate of 13.449 points to finish third in the qualification round while Pranati qualified for the

Star Indian gymnasts Dipa Karmakar and Pranati Nayak qualified for the vault final of the FIG Apparatus World Cup, a Paris Olympics qualifying event, here on Friday. Dipa, who had finished fourth in the 2016 Rio Olympics, scored an aggregate of 13.449 points to finish third in the qualification round and seal her spot in the finals. Pranati qualified for the final after finishing seventh with a score of 13.166. The top eight finishers in the qualification round made it to the finals. Last month, the 30-year-old Dipa returned to the National Championships to win gold in all-round event and a silver each in the vault and uneven bars. Dipa had returned to action in July last year after serving a 21-month suspension for a doping violation. She missed the Hangzhou Asian Games despite topping selection trials in her event as she didn't fulfil the sports ministry criterion. Pranati had won gold in the vault and bronze in balance beam in the National Championships.

Olympian Dipa Karmakar hogged the limelight on the second day of the Artistic Gymnastics Senior National Championship as she topped the all-around performance with a total of 49.55 points here on Wednesday. Railways emerged champions in the women's team category with 182.60 points while Maharashtra finished second with 169.95. West Bengal were third with 166.80 points at the Gymnastics Centre in Kalinga Stadium here. Hosts Odisha finished fourth with 164.65 points. Dipa, representing Tripura, aggregated 49.55 points. She recorded 13.40 on Vault, 10.65 on Uneven Bars, 13.10 on Balance Beam and 12.40 on Floor Exercise. Expressing her delight at topping all-around category, Dipa said, "I'm competing in Senior Nationals after eight years, I feel great about it, and I am really happy with my today's performance. I'll try to do well tomorrow as well, there will be competition on individual apparatus." Railways' Pranati Das (47.00) and Swastika Ganguly (45.30) finished second and third .

Olympian Dipa Karmakar will make her comeback to the tournament after a long gap of eight years as the three-day senior national championship for gymnastics begins here from Tuesday. The three-day tournament will also see Pranati Nayak, also an Olympian, as well as national gymnasts like Yogeshwar Singh, Rakesh Patra, Tapan Mohanty, Saif Tamboli and Gaurav Kumar in action at the Kalinga Stadium. The state is hosting the tournament after successfully conducting the Junior Artistic Gymnastics National Championship recently. Karmakar's coach Bishweshwar Nandi said, "Dipa is taking part in the National Championship after almost eight years. There will be Pranati Das, Pranati Nayak, Aruna Reddy and various other senior athletes taking part as well. So it's a good thing. "I couldn't come to the Junior Nationals, but I would like to see the junior athletes compete against these senior athletes. "I liked the Gymnastics Centre here, and I really wish that it produces a strong contingent in

Star gymnast Dipa Karmakar will compete at the Senior Artistic Gymnastics National Championships after a gap of eight years in Bhubaneswar next week. The prestigious event will be held here from January 2 to 4. Besides Dipa, the championship will feature the likes of Tokyo Olympian Pranati Nayak, Yogeshwar Singh, Rakesh Patra, Tapan Mohanty, Saif Tamboli, Gaurav Kumar among others. "Dipa will compete at the Senior nationals. The last time she had participated at the domestic event was in 2015. This will be here last nationals," her coach Bisweswar Nandi told PTI. The 30-year-old from Agartala, the first female gymnast from India to compete in the Olympics, was ignored for the Asian Games despite topping the trials as she didn't meet SAI's selection criteria of players needing to score equivalent to the eighth ranked gymnast in the last Asian Games. It was since then she couldn't participate in any event following her 21-month suspension due to a doping violation. Nandi, however,

Star Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar is likely to be picked in the Indian contingent for the Asian Games following a request to the Sports Ministry by the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) to consider her case despite not fitting the selection criteria set by the government. Dipa, who brought Indian gymnastics into the spotlight by finishing a creditable fourth at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was dropped from the final list of women gymnastics squad for the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games from September 23 for failing to fulfil the ministry's selection criteria. The Sports Ministry's selection criteria states that, "In individual events during the last 12 months prior to the commencement of the event (Asian Games), the performance of the sportspersons should not be less than the performance achieved by eighth position holder of the 2018 Asian Games in measurable sports." Dipa, however, topped the trials held in Bhubaneswar on July 11 and 12 and was part of the initial squad sent to the Asia

India's ace gymnast Karmakar was banned for 21 months after failing a dope Test

Top Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar is happy that she has overcome the hardships that have plagued her for the last few years and finally appeared for the trials of the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games. The Tripura gymnast, who narrowly missed out on a bronze in 2016 Rio Olympics, was making a comeback after 21 months of suspension due to a doping violation. On Tuesday, the 29-year-old Dipa earned the maximum points to emerge on top in the all-around event during the trials to select the squad for the Asian Games at the Kalinga Stadium here. "I am very happy that I could give the trials after the hardships I went through in the last few years," said Dipa after successfully competing in the trials. "I think it was a big comeback for me. The performance was OK, though not 100 per cent. But moving forward, I will do my best to give more than 100 per cent," she said. Dipa was a part of the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games gymnastics contingent but despite the high expectations, she could not finish

Dipa had to take a provisional suspension when her sample from an out-of-competition test had returned positive for a banned substance which she "unknowingly ingested"

Star gymnast Dipa Karmakar has been handed a 21-month ban for failing a dope test conducted by the International Testing Agency, contrary to claims made by Indian officials that her "suspension" last year was not related to doping offence. Karmakar's dope sample collected out-of-competition by the ITA, an independent organisation that manages the anti-doping programme of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), was found to contain Higenamine, which is a prohibited substance under World Anti-Doping Agency Code. Her ban period will, however, end on July 10 this year as it was counted from the day (October 11, 2011) the sample was collected. "The ITA confirms that Dipa Karmakar has been suspended for a 21-month period, effective until 10 July 2023 after testing positive for higenamine (S3. Beta-2 Agonists as per the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited list)," the ITA said in a statement late on Friday. "The positive sample was collected on behalf of the FIG in the scope of an .

Karmakar, who finished fourth at the 2016 Rio Olympics, has been struggling with injuries ever since she underwent a surgery to treat an Anterior Cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in 2017

The biography accentuates how gymnastics as a sport has been majorly sidelined in India

Returning to action after a lay-off of nearly two years due to a knee injury, Dipa emerged triumphant in the vault event

Lack of service centres & bad roads in Tripura make gift an unviable option

Modi yesterday announced setting up a task force to prepare an action plan for next three Olympic Games of 2020, 2024, 2028

In the Olympics, Dipa, had ended up just outside a medal bracket with 15.066 points after putting on a superb display

The 23-year-old scored an average of 15.066 points, a mere 0.15 less than the bronze winner Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland

Lacking funds and resources, Karmakar has found her ticket for Olympic glory in the Produnova vault