Ace gymnast Dipa Karmakar, whose rehabilitation after a knee surgery had been completed in December 2017, said she will not be able to compete in the Commonwealth Games, this year.
My coach (Bisweshwar Nandi) has decided that I will not take part in the Commonwealth Games because not much time has gone by after I underwent a knee surgery. I don’t want to take any risk. I am aiming for a good performance at the Asian Games for the moment.Dipa Karmakar
In Rio 2016 Olympics, Karmakar created history when she narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in the women's vault event. The 24-year-old Tripura girl, who became the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for the Olympics, finished fourth in the final round of the women's vault event.
In April 2017, Karmakar underwent surgery in Mumbai after injuring herself during a national camp in the capital. Therefore, after the high of Rio, Karmakar could not compete anywhere due to an Anterior Crucial Ligament (ACL) injury in her right knee.
Since undergoing the surgery in April, Karmakar has missed the Asian Championship and the World Championship in Canada.
Karmakar’s coach Bisweshwar Nandi said, “she is not yet ready for a tournament like the Commonwealth Games. So, the target is to make her fully ready for the Asian Games (18 August-2 September)”.
She is fit but needs more time to be competition-ready. I would not call it a setback and she has taken it very sportingly.Bisweshwar Nandi
Nandi expressed that Karmakar is not performing her best at the moment.
Dipa has been practicing only for the last one and a half months. She will take four-five months to achieve the desired performance in big tournaments. We can allow Dipa to participate in CWG, but then she will only participate, she won’t be able to perform well.Bisweshwar Nandi
(With inputs from IANS)
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