Agartala: Tripura has been celebrating the entry of Dipa Karmakar, India's lone gymnast, in the final round of Rio Olympic finishing 8th in the qualification event of the Vaults by scoring 14.850.
Dipa’s fans have organized prayers in several places of Agartala since early morning and erected hundreds of festoons wishing her a grand success in the final round to be held on August 14 at 23:15 IST.
Dipa’s parents have been flooded with electronic messages since last night.Tripura Sports Minister Shahid Choudhury sent message to Dipa and her coach Bishweswar Nandi in Rio wishing success.
Sports organizations have also assembled a special prayer meeting for Dipa.The schools surrounding Dipa’s home at Abhoynagar in Agartala held prayers in the morning.An overwhelmed Dulal Karmakar, Dipa’s father, stated that Dipa not only 'made us proud but also scripted history in India after she became the first Indian to qualify for the apparatus finals of artistic Gymnastics at the Rio'.
She could not repeat her performance in three other events--uneven bars, balancing beam and floor exercise.Though Karmakar was 6th before the final round, a strong performance from Canada saw her slip to 8th but that was the last position to qualify, Karmakar said. (UNI)
