Dipa Karmakar becomes first Indian gymnast to win gold in Asian Senior Championships

Dipa Karmakar, a top gymnast, became the first Indian to earn a gold medal at the Asian Senior Championships on Sunday, winning the women’s vault. Dipa, 30, scored an average of 13.566 in the vault final on the final day of competition in Uzbekistan’s capital city. North Koreans Kim Son Hyang (13.466) and Jo Kyong Byol (12.966) won the silver and bronze medals, respectively. Dipa, who came fourth in the vault final at the 2016 Rio Olympics, had previously won bronze in the same event in 2015. Ashish Kumar earned a bronze medal in individual floor exercise at the 2015 Asian Championships. Pranati Nayak also won bronze medals in the vault event in the 2019 and 2020 editions.

“History created at The Asian Gymnastics Championship. Inspirational, Dipa! Congratulations on the #Gold,” Sports Authority of India tweeted. The Tripura gymnast also achieved a remarkable feat: a gold medal in vault at the 2018 FIG World Cup in Mersin, Turkey, making her the first Indian to ever win a yellow metal at a worldwide gymnastics event. Dipa, who returned to competition this year following a 21-month suspension for doping, is out of the running for the 2015 Paris Olympics. She finished 16th in the all-round category with a score of 46.166 on Friday.

The Asian Championship is the final Olympic qualification. She finished fourth in the vault final at the FIG Apparatus World Cup in Doha in April. She had previously skipped the World Cup in Cottbus, Germany (February 22-25), after finishing fifth at the Cairo World Cup (February 15-18).