Kolkata: Gymnast Dipa Karmakar has decided that she will return to competition at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. The 2016 Rio Olympian, however, currently is not getting the proper equipment to start training properly.
“I will not do the Produnova vault at the Asiad,” Dipa was quoted as saying in a vernacular daily here, Tuesday. “I will do other vault forms, I have not decided on which two, however. Me and my coach Bisweshwar Nandi will soon sit down to finalise the programme for Asiad,” she added.
Dipa has been training daily for four hours at a local gym in Agartala. However, she has not been able to practice her vaults because foam mattresses (essential for landing after a vault routine) are unavailable in Agartala.
“I had requested the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) to start the training camp at New Delhi for national gymnasts in April itself. But till date nothing has matured. If I have to win a medal at the Asiad, which I very much want to, I must start training soon (read now). However, I am not getting the chance to do that. The situation is such that I have a bag ready. If the camp starts tomorrow morning, I can reach the venue today night,” Dipa asserted.
Her coach Nandi also talked on the same lines. “Dipa since her return from surgery will need constant feedback from the doctor and physiotherapist regarding her landing. Unless the national camp starts, she will not be able to get those facilities. It is very risky for her to start her vault exercises,” Nandi pointed out.
Nandi however, indicated that he has two vaults in his mind for Dipa. “One is the Handspring Somersault with 540 degree turn and the other is Sukahara 720 degree vault. In both the primary landing is on the hands. So the pressure on the knees is less,” he informed.
With the national camp yet to start and the GFS’s apparent apathy to come up with an announcement, national gymnastics coach Jayprakash Chakrabarty is also agitated. “What can I say,” Chakrabarty has been quoted as saying in the same vernacular. “But it is a fact that we should give up on medal hopes if we don’t start the camp soon,” he added.
Chakrabarty also said that the two SAIs where foam pits are available are Kolkata and New Delhi. “The advantage of a camp in New Delhi is that the facilities there are better than Kolkata,” Chakrabarty opined. “That is why all the gymnasts want to practice at SAI, Delhi,” he added.