India's star vaulters Dipa Karmakar and Pranati Nayak sealed their qualification for the Vault Final of the World Gymnastics Championships in Egypt's Cairo on Friday.
Karmakar qualified for the final with a score of 13.449. Nayak confirmed her spot in the final round with a score of 13.166.
Following the entry of the two Indian gymnasts into the final, Sports Authority of India (SAI) took to their X (formerly Twitter) to congratulate Dipa and Pranati for their all-important final event at the World Gymnastics Championships.
"The amazing girls of India #Gymnasts qualify for Vault Final of World Cup. Let's hear it out for Dipa & Pranati who qualified for the final with scores of 13.449 & 13.166 respectively. Many congratulations to both of you and good luck for the final," SAI tweeted.
Dipa Karmakar was in the spotlight for her performance at the Senior Artistic Gymnastics National Championship 2024, where she topped the all-round performance with a total of 49.55 points. Hailing from Tripura, the star gymnast recorded 13.40 on Vault, 10.65 on Uneven Bars, 13.10 on Balance Beam, and 12.40 on Floor Exercise.
Nayak clinched the gold medal in the Women's Artistic Gymnastics in the all-around event in 2023. She followed it up with gold medals in the Vault event, Beams event, and Uneven Bars Apparatus. However, she missed out on a gold medal by a narrow margin in Floor Exercises. Nonetheless, she finished the event finding herself on the podium with a silver medal.
Dipa Karmakar returns to represent India after 5 long years
Dipa Karmakar is representing her country for the first time in five years. She was hit with a major setback when she was suspended for three years after being involved in a doping controversy.
Karmakar's has been hard at work to stage a comeback and prove herself. Having qualified for the Vault Final, she will now be eager to go the distance and complete a grand return.