An elated Dipa Karmakar returned from the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup in Mersin, Turkey, with more than the gold medal in the vault event. The happiness of coming first aside, for both Karmakar and her coach Bisheshwar Nandi, the performance at the competition was more of a ‘test’ of her confidence, physical and mental strength in a top level competition ahead of the Asian Games to be held in Jakarta next month.
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The relief and joy was evident in the soft-spoken Nandi’s voice while speaking to THE WEEK. “I wanted to check her confidence level at this competition. Now that she is back to her 100 per cent, I will start making her work harder now,” said Nandi. “It was a challenge for both her and me as there was an element of fear in both of us. She has been practising only since the last three months. No doubt it was a risk we took, but we are happy that it all turned out positively.”
Dipa, 24, who came fourth at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the vault event, had suffered a career-threatening Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury post the Games and had undergone a surgery.
She scored 14.150 in her favourite vault event in Turkey. She missed out on making a comeback at the Commonwealth Games this year as her rehabilitation took more time than expected.
Dipa did not do her signature but dangerous Produnova vault in Turkey. “Since it was her comeback after the injury, I decided to make her perform a soft vault. She did 180 degrees turn. Gradually, she has to do a 540 degrees turn on the front vault as she will not be attempting the Produnova. She will do the hand spring straight,” said the coach.
But Nandi is not willing to look too far ahead as far as his ward is concerned. On Dipa’s chances of winning a medal at the Asian Games, a cautious Nandi said, “We are hopeful she will perform well at the Asian Games. I can't say now whether she will get a medal or not but she will try her best to improve on her previous performance.”