Tripura’s Dipa Karmakar becomes first Indian gymnast to win gold in Asian Gymnastics Championships 2024

Dipa Karmakar scripted history by winning the gold medal in the women’s vault apparatus at the Asian Gymnastics Championships 2024 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on Sunday.

As per Sports Authority of India this is the first time that an Indian gymnast managed to win a gold medal in any event at the Asian Championships.

Previously, Indian gymnasts managed four medals, all bronze, at the continental championships. 

Dipa Karmakar herself accounted for one of these with a third-place finish in women’s vault in 2015.

In the women’s vault final at Tashkent, the 30-year-old Olympian posted an average score of 13.566 to finish ahead of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Kim Son-hyang (13.466) and Jo Kyong-byol (12.966).

Earlier on Friday, Dipa Karmakar finished 16th in the all-round category in Tashkent with a score of 46.166 and failed to secure a Paris 2024 Olympics quota for India in gymnastics.

However, the vault gold adds to Dipa’s already impressive list of firsts for Indian gymnastics. 

She is also the first Indian female gymnast to compete at the Olympics and finished a credible fourth in women’s vault at Rio 2016 - the best display by any gymnast at the Summer Games to date.

She also won the women’s vault gold medal at the 2018 FIG World Cup in Mersin, Turkiye, becoming the first Indian to ever win a gold medal at a global gymnastics event.

After this Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha called Dipa and her coach, Bishweshwar Nandi, to congratulate both of them and wish them more success.

On Facebook, Dr. Saha wrote, “Proud moment for India. Congratulations to Dipa Karmakar for becoming the first-ever Indian gymnast to win a gold medal at the Asian Championships held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, with an impressive total score of 13.566.”