Dipa Karmakar, the sports personality from India's Tripura region, who became the first Indian female gymnast ever to compete in the Olympics said on 9 December, Saturday that her rehabilitation has been completed and she will join the training camp to prepare for 2018 Commonwealth Games at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.
"My rehabilitation is complete and I started my training from 1st December. I will be joining the camp in Delhi from next week on December 11," Karmakar told reporters at a college felicitation programme.
In 2016 Rio Olympics, Karmakar made history after her participation in the women's vault event, where she narrowly missed the bronze and finished fourth in the final round of that event.
In 2017 April, the 24-year-old Indian athlete underwent surgery in Mumbai after an Anterior Crucial Ligament (ACL) injury in her right knee during a national camp in Delhi and since then she could not compete anywhere.
"Injuries are part and parcel of a sportsperson's life. I have now come out of it and I feel good after resuming training. I am mentally more focused to achieve bigger success. My coach (Bishweswar Nand) takes care of everything and plans the vaults for me," Karmakar said.
Due to the surgery, she missed Asian Championship and also skipped the World Championship in Canada. However, Karmakar has mastered Tsukahara 720 and Handspring double front, which includes Produnova move. She said she is now working on a new vault, Handspring 540.
While Karmakar was asked if being out of competition for such a long time would be a cause of worry for next year, she talked about the next generation gymnasts.
"The next generation of gymnasts are very promising. The came fourth and fifth in the recently concluded Asian Championships.the next generation gymnasts. I am hopeful we will have more gymnasts coming from India as we are heading towards the right direction," she said.
Karmakar added that infrastructure has improved a lot since her feat in her hometown in Agartala and added, "After Delhi, I think we have the best apparatus now in Agartala."
(Inputs from IANS)
