Eyeing to become the first Indian gymnast to win an Olympic medal, Dipa Karmakar is set to take on what has been called the "vault of death" but the Tripura girl said she doesn't find it difficult anymore
Rio de Janeiro: Eyeing to become the first Indian gymnast to win an Olympic medal, Dipa Karmakar is set to take on what has been called the "vault of death" but the Tripura girl said she doesn't find it difficult anymore after training extensively in last three months.
Dipa Karmakar
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The Produnova -- a handspring double-front somersault -- has the highest degree of difficultly for a women's vault, a 7.0, and only five women in the world have attempted it in competition.
The difficult vault has already led to a horrific injury of French gymnast Samir Ait Said after she broke her leg on the vault in men's qualifying event on Saturday.
However, Dipa, who is India's first female gymnast at an Olympic Games, is more excited than concerned about performing the vault at the Rio Games.
"I believe that practice makes perfect, and then it is not difficult anymore," she said. "My coach, (Bisweshwar Nandi) ensured that I practised extensively."
"In the last three months I did 1000 repetitions of the move," she said. "Now it is the easiest vault for me."
Dipa, who turns 23 on Tuesday, is the first Indian gymnast to compete at the Games since 1964. She had won a bronze at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games after landing the Produnova in her vault final.
"Not many in the country knew about this until recently, and now I hope that this vault becomes more famous than me in India," she said.
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