10 young Indians who failed to win a medal, but showed promise at Rio 2016

Dipa Karmakar

The young gymnast from Tripura was one of the country’s most feted names at Rio 2016. In a sport that is neglected in India, one that has seen few, if any names emerge from the country, Karmakar gave it her all. The 22-year-old started out struggling with flat-footedness, overcoming that first physical barrier in reaching where she has.

Karmakar set a number of records in just making the cut at Rio 2016 – winning gold in the qualifiers. The first ever female gymnast from India to qualify for the Olympic Games, she was also the first Indian gymnast, irrespective of sex, to qualify for the Olympic games in over half a century.

The 2014 bronze medal winner at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow had been due to perform the Produnova or the Death Vault, considered one of the most difficult and deadly in gymnastics.

Making the cut at Rio for the vault finals, Karmakar only narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing in fourth place overall.

The young woman put her immense talent on display on the world stage, a feat all the more laudable given the dearth of gymnastics infrastructure and equipment in the country, and has become a sporting icon for the country, and arguably the country’s first figure for aspiring gymnasts to look up to.

Her performance at Rio has likely opened up avenues for the gymnast, who should now be able to train better for future tournaments.