National Games: Tripura Govt. under pressure to reward Gymnast Dipa Karmakar

Dipa Karmakar

Agartala, February 9 (IANS)

The opposition Congress legislators on Monday castigated the Left Front government for not giving due importance to Dipa Karmakar, who excelled with a haul of five gold medals for Tripura in the ongoing 35th National Games in Kerala.

The Tripura assembly witnessed a heated debate on the issue between the treasury and opposition benches forcing the house to congratulate Karmakar for her feat in gymnastics.

Congress legislator Ashish Saha raised the issue and said, “The state government or any ministers did not congratulate Karmakar for her triumph. The house must pass a resolution congratulating her and offer a lump sum amount of Rs.25 lakh.”

Sports and youth affairs minister Sahid Chowdhury told the house that earlier, following her success in the national games and Commonwealth Games, the state government had given government jobs to both Karmakar and her coach Biswasher Nandi.

Karmakar, the first Indian woman gymnast to bag a bronze medal in the 20th Commonwealth Games (in Glasgow), has clinched the gold medals in individual all-round, table vault, balancing beam, uneven parallel bars and floor exercises in the ongoing national games.

A five-time national overall individual champion between 2010-2014, Karmakar is a physical instructor under Tripura's sports and youth affairs department.