After first coming into the limelight for winning a bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, to say that Dipa Karmakar has come a long way since then is an understatement. When she achieved the feat, she procured India's second ever medal in the discipline on an international level. Since then, she secured an Olympic qualification and also became the first female gymnast to qualify for the final round of an Olympic competition. Day 9 of Rio 2016 will see Dipa face her toughest challenge yet.
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Also read: What is the Produnova vault, and why should you cheer when Dipa Karmakar lands on her feet at Rio?
Live Telecast
Channel: Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD 2
Live Stream: www.starsports.com and Hotstar app
Date and Time: Sunday 14 August 2016 – 11:17pm IST
Venue: Rio Olympic Arena
Indian participating
Dipa Karmakar
This 23-year old from Agartala sealed her place in the history of the sports culture in India after she successfully pulled off the Produnova in the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow. Representing India in a very marginalised sport, Dipa Karmakar's grit and determination have supported her in her journey so far. The Produnova, popularly known as the vault of death, has only been successfully performed by 5 people and Dipa happens to be one of them.
Even outside her family and relatives, Dipa had difficulties of her own. Born with flat feet, when she first started training as a gymnast at the age of 6, the affliction was the biggest one to overcome. Flat feet are considered dangerous to any gymnast. Her longtime coach and mentor Bisheshwar Nandi had to train her extra for that reason.
Dipa's qualification has turned her into a poignant medal hope for the country that has not managed to bag a single one up until now. That makes her performance more important and relevant to every Indian at present.
Also read: Rio 2016: Dipa Karmakar and Simone Biles - The Story of Parallels
Gymnasts to watch out for
Simone Biles (USA)
Simone has won everything there is to win in Gymnastics outside the Olympics. Being the most decorated gymnast in America at present, she is the first woman to win three consecutive all-round titles in World Championships. She has a total of 14 World Championships medals, ten of which are gold.
Simone Biles has already bagged two medals at Rio 2016. This 19-year old was a part of the American Gymnastics team who won the gold this Olympics. She also has the Individual All-round title at Rio in her name.
She is one of the stars of this tournament as she seems almost effortless in her performances. Clean landings, high jumps and a lot of grace, Simone Biles is certainly a competitor to watch out for.
Oksana Chusovitina (Uzbekistan)
This 41-year old from Uzbekistan has had a career that has spanned over a quarter of a century. She has grace, elegance and a lot of experience on her side as she competes in the seventh Olympics of her career. She is the only female gymnast to have competed in so many editions of the tournament. In her long career, she has represented three nations namely the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan, and Germany.
She earned her first individual Olympic medal at Beijing, representing Germany, in 2008 after she was the oldest woman to compete in her discipline. She qualified with a fourth place to the vault final where she obtained a score of 15.575 to win the silver medal. Earlier, she was a part of the Gymnastics team of Soviet Union that won the gold in the 1992 Olympics.
Hong un-Jong (North Korea)
The Gold medallist of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, un-Jong finished second in the Qualification Round with 15.683 points. The only person who performed better than her was the prodigy that is Simone Biles. Her Gold medal in 2008 was the first Gold medal for a North Korean woman in the Olympics for Gymnastics.
Although she has been caught up in various age-related controversies since then, nobody can deny the lithe movements she comes up with make her completely deserving of the accolades she has won over the years. More recently, she won the Gold at the World Championships held at Nanning and Silver at the Championships held in Glasgow. She also won gold in this very event in the 2015 Asian Games held in Incheon. She certainly is a formidable contender for a podium finish.
