Rio de Janeiro, April 18 (IANS) Dipa Karmakar on Monday entered into history books as she became India’s first woman gymnast to qualify for Olympics after putting up a strong show at the final qualifying and Rio Games test event.
Dipa, who is an Asian bronze medallist, qualified in the artistic gymnastics event at Rio after collecting 52.698 points in the test event, according to the world gymnastics governing body’s website.
Dipa will also get a chance in the vault, the event in which she picked up two bronze medals in the 2015 Asian Championships and 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Besides being the first Indian woman, she will also be an Indian gymnast qualifying for the quadrennial extravaganza after 52 long years.
The last participation by India in gymnastics at Olympics was way back in 1964, but during that time there was no qualification system in place.
