Internet Desk: When the southern part of the country is celebrating the homecoming of the Silver Medalist shuttler P V Sindhu, the eastern part of the country welcomed gymnast Dipa Karmakar. Government of Tripura her a grand reception at Agartala.
Reaching the verge of Olympic success Dipa Karmakar realized the importance of enthusiasm of parents to up bring their girl children. “Beti bachao, beti padao aur beti ko khilao,” she said, urging the country to save, feed and educate the girl child.
Karmakar, 21, missed winning a medal in the vault final by just 0.15 points. But her stellar performance in gymnastics, an area India has consistently ignored, makes her a champion. Along with medalists PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik, who won silver for badminton and bronze for wrestling, Ms Karmakar gave India something to cheer about at the Olympics.
“I will try extremely hard to get gold medals in the forthcoming Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and 2020 Tokyo Olympics. I shall try to deliver my best in future,” said Dipa, who set a record by becoming the first Indian to qualify for Olympics after 52 years.
Today, she was everyone’s hero in Agartala. On the 12-kilometers route that she covered in an open jeep from the airport to the ceremony where she was honoured, Dipa Karmakar spotted her older sister and jumped out of the jeep with the ease of, well, a world-class gymnast, to embrace her. “I can’t explain how it feels. It is amazing to see so many people on the street waiting to wish me. I thank each and every one of them,” said Dipa Karmakar from her jeep.