Dipa Karmakar creates history wins gold at Asian Championship

Dipa Karmakar of Tripura became the first ever Indian gymnast to win a gold medal in any Asian Championships. Dipa won the gold medal in the women’s vault individual final at the Asian Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2024 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on 26 May 2024.

Dipa Karmakar's first Gold in the Asian Championships 

Dipa Karmakar scored an average of 13.566 points to bag the gold medal.  Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (North Korea) Kim Son-hyang won the silver medal with 13.466 points, and Jo Kyong-byol, also of North Korea, won the bronze with 12.966 points.

However, Dipa failed to secure the quota for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics games as she came 16th in the all-round category.

Indian Medal winner at the Asian Championships 

• 2006, Surat - Ashish Kumar,bronze medal in the  individual floor exercise final
• 2015, Hiroshima - Dipa Karmakar, bronze in vault individual final
• 2019, Ulaanbaatar - Pranati Nayak, bronze in the vault individual final
• 2022, Doha - Pranati Nayak won bronze in the vault individual final
• 2024, Tashkent - Dipa Karmakar, gold in vault individual final

About Dipa Karmakar 

• Dipa Karmakar of Tripura is just 4 feet 11 inches tall. She is one of the most famous women gymnasts in India who has inspired others to take up the sport.
• She won her first international medal bronze at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
• She was the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for the summer olympics. She participated in the 2016 Rio Olympics and was fourth in the vault event.
• She became the first Indian ever to win a gold medal at a global gymnastics event. She won the gold at the 2018 FIG World Cup in Mersin, Turkiye. 
• She won a bronze medal at the 2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Germany.

Awards and Recognition

• Dipa Karmakar was conferred India’s highest sports award, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award (now Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award) 2016.
• She was honoured with India’s fourth highest civilian award, Padma Shri 2017.