Dipa Karmakar, a top gymnast, made history as the first Indian to win a gold medal at the Asian Senior Championships, winning the women’s vault. The 30-year-old, competing from Uzbekistan’s capital scored an average of 13.566 points in the vault final. North Korean gymnasts Kim Son Hyang and Jo Kyong Byol won silver and bronze medals, with scores of 13.466 and 12.966, respectively.
In 2015, Dipa won bronze in the same event at the Asian Championships after finishing fourth at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Ashish Kumar also earned a bronze medal in the individual floor exercise at the 2015 Asian Championships.
On Friday, she placed 16th in the all-around category in Tashkent with a score of 46.166, falling just short of qualifying India’s Olympic gymnastics quota for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Emma Malabuyo of the Philippines won the only Olympic quota available at the Tashkent tournament.
Dipa competed in three of the four qualification events: Cairo, Baku, and Doha, reaching the finals in all three but not making the podium. She finished fifth in Cairo and nearly missed the podium in Baku and Doha, finishing fourth each.
