Dipa Karmakar clinches her first gold at World Challenge Cup
Dipa Karmakar celebrated her return to competitive action after a two-year injury layoff with a gold medal at the Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup in the vault event. The gymnast from Tripura finished with a total score of 14.150 to seal the gold medal for India in Mersin, Turkey.
The 24-year-old had managed to finish fourth at the 2016 Olympics in Rio and had narrowly missed out on India’s first ever medal in Gymnastics on the biggest stage in the world. Today, however, she managed to qualify for the final round with a score of 13.400 before sealing the final with a total of 14.150. Rifda Irfanaluthfi and Goksu Uctas Sanli finished in second and third place respectively.
But that is not the only medal that Karmakar is going to bring back as she also managed to qualify for the final of the balance beam event. The Indian star finished third in the qualification for the event with a score of 11.850.
After a successful campaign in Rio, the Tripura girl had suffered an ACL injury which had required her to go through surgery. While there were rumours that she would be able to make it back in time for the Commonwealth Games, her rehabilitation took a bit longer which meant that she had to skip the Gold Coast Games. However, Karmakar has been added to the 10-member contingent that India