Tripura may be amongst the states reporting lowest number of COVID 19 positive cases (2), but the lockdown has kept the people strictly indoors. Bisheshwar Nandi, national gymnastics coach and the man who coached Dipa Karmakar too is working from home. With the national camp suspended and no training possible even in the local sports council training centre in Agartala, Nandi is keeping track of all the wards under him from long distance.
He faces dual challenges in front of him, the first being to get Dipa Karmakar to resume training with an eye on Tokyo Olympics qualification and the second to prepare the younger gymnasts under him with an eye on 2024 podium finish. Dipa had just resumed training when the lockdown came into force putting a halt to her comeback plans. Postponement has given some hope to Dipa's ambitions to qualify for the 2020 Games.
A bright upcoming talent currently being trained by Nandi and his wife Soma is a local girl from Agartala - Priyanka Dasgupta who impressed all in the Khelo India Games in Guwahati in January this year with a four medal haul. The challenges are huge as the gymnasts are unable to do even simple gymnastics drills at home. "As you know we cannot train in gymnastics without equipment. The athletes need a mat, a foam pit, the vault, the uneven bars to train on, how can they train without them?" he told THE WEEK.
Currently Nandi has 3 more gymnasts other than the senior lot which includes Dipa Karmakar. He says he tries to ensure they remain fit by requesting their parents to oversee their physical fitness regime inside their homes. "I have given them their training charts and I ask the parents to ensure they follow it fully. They send videos, readings, timings etc to me via whatsapp or online. As for Dipa, he can see her doing her fitness routines under her dad, himself a SAI coach on the terrace of her family home.
Coming to his most famous ward Dipa, Nandi made it clear that he still has her in his plans for 2024. Dipa 26 years old now, has been brushing aside any age concerns and so is her coach. "Yes I know she will be 30 years old then but she will be focusing only on one equipment," said Nandi. But her Tokyo dreams were almost over due to a knee injury when news of the postponement of the Summer Olympics came. Even though Dipa has two more world cups most likely to be held in early 2021 to make the grade for Tokyo, her coach is not putting any pressure. He admits its a tough ask for her to qualify for Tokyo.
Karmakar underwent a knee surgery in 2018 and she returned to action by claiming a gold at the World Challenge Cup in Turkey in July, 2018. However, she did miss the Asian Championships, World Championships and the Commonwealth Games in 2018. A knee strain forced her to miss the Asian Games in Jakarta too in 2018. She missed most of 2019 too because of injury.
