Exclusive – My focus is to win a medal in Tokyo 2020: Dipa Karmakar

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Dipa Karmakar and her coach Bisweswar Nandi were felicitated by Bhawanipore Club and Bengal Chamber of Commerce today. XtraTime

Dipa Karmakar’s Portrayal on Winning Medal in Tokyo Games 2020

Kolkata : Olympian and Khel Ratna 2016 winner Dipa Karmakar and her Dronacharya winning coach Bisweswar Nandi were felicitated by Bhawanipore Club and Bengal Chamber of Commerce where she was awarded with a saree . During this felicitation program she said for the last 5 or 6 years she was unable to attend any Durga Puja with her family as she was busy in her gymnastics events in different countries but this year after the Olympics she is spending her time with family and she will wear this saree on Astami spending a good time with that of her near and dear ones.

After this event she gave an exclusive interview to XtraTime regarding her Olympic journey.

XT : What was your first reaction after you ended the event at fourth place?
Dipa : After doing Produnova in the event I thought I would end the event on a high note. But after seeing that I had just missed a medal by just 0.15 points, my feeling was if I could get a few more days of training, I could have clinched a medal for my country.

XT : What is your aim in your future events?
Dipa : I will work harder in my training sessions and my aim is to win a medal in Tokyo 2020 and to make my country proud.

XT : What did Amitabh Bachchan suggest you?
Dipa : Amit ji appreciated my effort and told me we all are with you keep practicing hard.

XT : What was Sachin Tendulkar’s suggestion for you?
Dipa : Sachin ji told me the whole nation is with me, keep practicing hard and if you need anything don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.

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Dipa’s coach Bisweswar Nandi also gave an exclusive interview to XtraTime regarding his future plans.

XT : What is your plan regarding the future of Indian gymnastics?
Bisweswar : In near future, me and the few other coaches of gymnastics would send a plan to the Ministry of Sports and SAI that we want to devide the whole country in five zones, as east zone, west zone , north zone, south zone and central zone where in each zone there will be four or five states. Then we want to build high quality academies in these zones with air condition practice halls and foam pits because we want to give the best facilities to the gymnastics that they could do well for their countries in their respective events.

XT : What is your plan regarding Dipa and your other Students?
Bisweswar : I will start their training just after Puja. They will have to get in shape again as in near future we have World Championship, Commonwealth Games and many other events. Like Dipa there are few more gymnasts like Pranati Nayek , Pranati Seth from Bengal & Aruna Reddy from Hyderabad who have the potential to do well in near future and I will do my level best to train them for these events.