Dipa Karmakar is an Indian gymnast born on August 9, 1993, in Tripura and she competes in women’s artistic discipline. In the 2014 Commonwealth Games, she won a bronze medal and became the first Indian female gymnast to do so in the history of the event. She also became the first Indian female gymnast to represent India in the Olympics as she took part in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. She was also the first Indian gymnast at the Summer Games after 52 years. CWG 2022: 5 Highlights Of India’s Performance at the30 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham

In the 2016 Summer Olympics, she displayed an amazing performance and finished fourth in the women’s vault gymnastics event in Rio. In 2018 she went to become the first Indian gymnast to win a gold medal at a global event, finishing first in the vault event at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup held at Mersin, Turkey. She is also recognized as one of the five women who have successfully landed the Produnova, regarded as the most difficult vault of those currently being performed. The same vault earned Karmakar the bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The history-making Indian Gymnast will be celebrating her 29th birthday on August 9, so here are some lesser-known facts:

  • Dipika Karmakar is the first Indian female gymnast to win bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Gymnastics Championships.

  • She is the first Indian female gymnast to represent India at the Olympic Games.

  • Karmakar is also the first Indian gymnast to win a global gold when she finished first at the 2018 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challange Cup.

  • She has also won a bronze medal at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup.

  • After her amazing display at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Championship, she was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2015.

  • She was also awarded the country’s highest sporting honour, Khel Ratna in 2016.

  • In 2017, Karmakar received the Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian National honour.

  • Karmakar was named among the Aisa’s under 30 super achievers on the Forbes list in 2017.

The Indian Gymnast, with many firsts to her name and an amazing career she is regarded as one of the best Indian female athletes. She has set a platform for many young gymnast aspirants as they hope to make even bigger strides in the sport.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 09, 2022 07:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).