Ahead of the big day on Sunday when Dipa Karmakar competes in the final of the Vault event in Artistic Gymnastics at Rio 2016, her coach Bishweshwar Nandi has revealed the sequence of the routines Dipa will follow on the big stage. Going against what she usually does in big tournaments, Dipa will execute the Tsukahara on her first vault and finish with a Produnova for her second.
Nandi explained the thinking behind changing her routine for the final by saying that he wants Dipa to focus on scoring points on the Tsukahara more, since the Produnova is easier for her. He had earlier told Sportskeeda that Dipa was working on a few variations of the Produnova, which could get her even higher points.
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Maybe one logic behind reversing Dipa's routine is to save up her Produnova for the latter stages of the event, when she has a fair idea of the score to beat and can unleash the promised variation of the Produnova or go with her usual Produnova.
“She has been doing the Produnova well but has been faltering in the second attempt when she does the Tsukahara. I want her to therefore try the latter first so that she will put her all in it and get decent points,” Hindustan Times quotes Nandi.
The possibility of Dipa landing a record score with the Produnova with her final jump and getting gold has a poignancy beyond compare.
Can win a medal for sure: Dipa
After Dipa finished with a score of 14.850 in the Vault qualifiers last Sunday, Nandi had said, “We will be adding subtle variations to our existent one. Tomorrow will be her off day, but after that she will start practicing on the variations again to help her get a higher rating in the finals.
Dipa had said then, “I will be practicing new routines which we had discussed today from August 9. If I land those variations, I feel I can win a medal for sure.”
Each of the Vault finalists are required to perform two vaults in quick succession. The two have to be from different ‘vault families’ – that is, they have to have some key points of difference. Gymnasts usually have a steady repertoire of two to three routines, from the two families.
A front handspring launch into the air followed by two-and-half saltos off, the Produnova (Difficulty Rating - 7), is as different as possible from a half-turn off the springboard onto the vault table followed by a backwards push leading to a back salto or a layout, the Tsukahara (Difficulty Rating - 6.2~6.8).
