Artistic Gymnastics World Cup: Indian Dipa Karmakar claims bronze medal for vault, inches closer to Tokyo 2020 qualification

Indian gymnast Dipa Karmarkar on Saturday claimed a bronze medal at the vault event on the third day of the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Cottbus, Germany. [caption id=“attachment_5611191” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Dipa Karmakar. Reuters[/caption] The 25-year-old from Tripura, who had an injury-marred campaign at the Asian Games, scored 14.316 to secure the bronze in the tournament, which is also a part of the eight-event qualifying system for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Dipa had qualified for the vault finals on Friday, scoring 14.100 to finish at the sixth place out of 16 gymnasts in the qualification. Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won the gold with a score of 14.728, while USA’s Jade Carey (14.516) bagged the silver. Dipa had won a gold in the vault event of Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup at Mersin, Turkey in July for her first medal after returning to action following a long lay-off of nearly two years. However, she had hurt her knee again during the Asian Games, missed the vault final and was forced to pull out of the team event. With this performance, the Indian, who had finished fourth at the Rio Olympics, inched closer to qualifying for the 2020 Olympics. “Dipa has done well in the first tournament. She will be travelling to two more events out of Australia, Doha and Baku. But this event was the toughest. Congratulations to her coach Bisweshwar Nandi. They have made the country proud. Now Olympics is not far,” said Riyaz Ahmed Bhati, Vice-President of Gymnastic Federation of India (GFI). “I am also thankful to the sports ministry and SAI for showing faith.” In the balance beam event, Dipa scored 11.066 (4.8 + 6.266) for a lowly finish out of the 32 competing gymnasts. Rakesh Patra was ranked 16th out of 29 gymnasts in parallel bar qualification round with a score of 13,033 (5.3 + 7.733). In the qualification round of men’s vault, Ashish Kumar finished at the 23rd place out of 27 gymnasts after scoring 12.866. Aruna Reddy, however, couldn’t participate in floor due to the knee injury she suffered on the opening day. The Cottbus meet is part of an eight-event qualifying system for the 2020 Olympics, under which the gymnasts will make the cut based on the their top three scores.