Dipa Karmakar scripts history, clinches India's first-ever gold medal at Asian Championships
May 26, 2024
Tashkent [Uzbekistan], May 26 : Dipa Karmakar on Sunday scripted her name in the history books after she clinched India's first-ever gold medal at the Asian Championships.
With an impressive total score of 13.566 in the women's vault final, Dipa took home a historic gold medal while South Korea's Kim Son Hyang secured silver and her compatriot Jyo Kyong Byal bagged the bronze.
The 30-year-old Olympian registered an average score of 13.566 while finished with timings of Kim Son-hyang (13.466) and Jo Kyong-byol (12.966).
Earlier on Friday, the Indian finished 16th in the all-round category with a score of 46.166, failing to secure a Paris 2024 Olympics quota for India in gymnastics.
This is the first time that an Indian gymnast won a gold medal in any event at the Asian Championships. Previously, Indian gymnasts managed four medals winning all bronze, at the continental championships.
India's Ashish Kumar in the men's floor exercise in 2006 and Pranati Nayak in the women's vault in 2019 and 2022, have been the other medallists for India in the competition.
Dipa's already outstanding list of firsts for Indian gymnastics is enhanced by the vault gold. She is the first female gymnast from India to compete in the Olympics, and at Rio 2016, she put on the best performance of any gymnast competing in the Summer Games, placing fourth in the women's vault.
She also became the first Indian to ever win a gold medal at an international gymnastics competition when she won the women's vault gold medal at the 2018 FIG World Cup in Mersin, Turkey.
