SAI Confirms Dipa Karmakar Participation In World Cups In Doha & Baku

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Tuesday cleared Dipa Karmakar's participation in the upcoming World Cups at Baku and Doha. "On taking notice of the pendency of clearance of Gymnastics team for the World Cups, SAI acted swiftly and immediately approval for clearance of the contingent for the Olympic Qualification World Cup events," Riyaz Bhati, vice-president of GFI said. It was also mentioned that the gymnastics federation will conduct trials for entries in the men's category.

SAI has approved Dipa and her personal coach Bisweswar Nandi's participation at FIG World Cups in Baku and Doha. It is scheduled to be held from March 14-17 and March 20-23 at Azerbaijan and Qatar respectively. The clearance was pending for a time.

"Now the gymnasts are clear in their mind and can focus exclusively on their training and preparation."

"The selection trial is likely to be conducted on March 11," Bhati said.

Also Read: Dipa Karmakar, Sakshi Malik And Alia Bhatt In Forbes’ Under-30 Achievers’ List

The 24-year-old is the daughter of a weightlifting coach, has been practising  gymnastics from the age of six. Born with a flat foot, a barrier for her to go ahead in the sport, the determined sportswoman trained and fought to overcome the challenge.

Dipa, who finished fourth at the Rio Olympics, had clinched the bronze medal at World Cup at Cottbus, Germany last year. Dipa underwent a knee surgery in April 2017. After a long lay-off of nearly two years due to injury, Dipa clinched the gold medal in the vault event of FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup at Mersin, Turkey last year. Dipa won accolades at Rio for performing the ‘vault of death’ — the Produnova. The category is indeed a challenging one in which the landing is risky and uncertain.

Feature Image Credit: NDTV.com

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