I am sure Dipa Karmakar will get a medal in 2020 Olympics : Bisweswar Nandi

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

19
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Dipa Karmakar's coach Bisweswar Nandi has expressed his firm belief that his pupil, who finished fourth in the women's vault final, will finish with a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He has also revealed Dipa's initial struggle due to her flat foot, and how they overcame the problem.

"We are really happy with her performance. There was no pressure on her. She did above expectation," Dipa's coach Bisweswar Nandi told News18.com in an exclusive interview.

“Winning a medal would have been a different thing all together. She is young and has a long way to go. All I can say I am proud of her efforts. She has done remarkably well on this big platform.”

In the final, Dipa managed 15.066 points after a stunning Produnova and finished ahead of gymnasts from China and Korea. However, Bisweswar insisted that their ultimate aim is to win a medal in the next Olympics, and he is confident about Dipa's chances of doing so.

"Every country and athlete come to the Olympics with one aim - winning a medal. Our aim was too winning a medal for our country. In the end, the best wins.

"It was a huge learning phase for Dipa. Not just she, me too have learnt a lot here. My ultimate goal is to prepare her for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. And I am sure, she will get a medal there," Bisweswar said.

In the buildup to the Games, Dipa Karmakar and her coach decided to train in India, despite offers from SAI to move abroad. Nandi said, "We were asked to go abroad for training by SAI, but I refused it. Even sponsors also approached us but I said no to them too.”

Nandi also spoke about how she was introduced to the sports by her father at the age of six, and how she initially struggled due to her flat foot.

"Actually, Dipa’s first coach was Soma Nandi. I am her second coach. She came to me as a 7-year-old in the year 2000. Her father brought her to me. She knew the basics. Since then, I have been training her.

"She was flat-footed. In gymnastics, you need to be cut-footed. Gymnastics has jumping movements. If you are flat-footed, you will face problem while landing and jumping," Nandi explained.

"I saw dedication in this girl but flat feet was the problem. Some gymnastics experts from Kolkata paid a visit to Agartala that time. I asked them for their advice on how to correct it. They said it is not possible. They broke my hopes. But I didn’t stop there.

"I did a lot of research. I gave nine to ten exercises to Dipa to overcome this problem, but I didn’t tell her that she was flat-footed. I just told her if she does all these exercises, she can be a better gymnast. She followed that for a year and the problem disappeared," Nandi told News18.

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