Dipa Karmakar - a 22 year-old girl from Tripura -- became the first ever Indian gymnast to make it to the Olympics. Dipa will now be seen competing with the world's best gymnasts at the Rio Olympics in August.
Dipa put up a brilliant effort in the final qualifer and the Olympic Test event in Rio de Janiero on Sunday. She finished ninth in the first four sub-divisions of women's artistic category.
Dipa scored a total of 52.698 points in the qualifier and the Olympic Test event.
"Dipa is 100 percent assured of an Olympic berth with this 52.698 score. There are three subdivisions to go but she has already beaten gymnasts from three countries. So she has qualified," Deepak Kagra, an international referee, was quoted as saying by PTI.
"This Test event has participants from 33 countries and since her score is above the participants of at least three countries, she will finish in the top 30 country-wise. That is enough for her to qualify for Rio Olympics."
The Tripura girl came close to qualifying for the Olympics in November 2015 at the World Championships, but she just missed out as she finished fifth.
Earlier, Dipa featured in the Commonwealth Games 2014 in Glasgow. There she made India proud by becoming the first woman to win the bronze medal at the event. She was the only Indian woman till date to feature in the finals of the World Championships.
"I am satisfied with her performance, and I hope she can qualify. I am told the top 29 girls can qualify, but it depends on a lot of team calculations, so we'll only know once everyone's finished," Dipa's coach Bishweshar Nandi was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.
"This Test event has participants from 33 countries and since her score is above the participants of at least three countries, she will finish in the top 30 country-wise. That is enough for her to qualify for Rio Olympics."
