Dipa Karmakar: Keeping my fingers crossed for qualification to Tokyo 2021

The India international is in Tripura during the nationwide lockdown.

Dipa Karmakar has voiced her relief on the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. The gymnast suffered a career-threatening knee injury which had potentially ended her chances of making it to the quadrennial event in 2020.

The gymnastics quotas are about 65-70% full and the India international is relying on the two world cups to be held before the Olympics kick start on 23rd July 2021.

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"More than 65 to 70 per cent of the gymnasts have already booked their places for the Tokyo Games. There were eight World Cups but now there are only a couple are left. Both these events, originally scheduled for March, were postponed to June, which also seems unlikely given the current situation," Dipa Karmakar told to TOI.

"The scene is quite gloomy across the globe and in such a situation there are chances that these two events could be held next year, which gives me more time to recover and prepare. So I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping to return to my practice as soon as the situation improves,"

Talking about her recovery from the injury and if she had lost hopes of making to the Olympics, Dipa Karmakar said, "Jo humare hath mein nehi hai uske bare mein sochne se kya hoga (there's no point in thinking about what's beyond our control). I used to console myself with those lines but of course such things disturb you mentally. That's where the importance of mental fitness comes in and I am lucky to have my coach and psychiatrist at that time."

"We normally tend to ignore the importance of mental fitness. This is such an important aspect in every part of our lives. I am glad many sportspersons have recently come up and spoken about mental health and fitness".

At the moment, Dipa is following a routine at her home which is set by her coach Bishweshwar Nandi.

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