Dipa’s leap of faith, into the unknown

Dipa Karmakar first made history, and then stared in desolation at the giant screen feeling very tiny in the face of the world.

The 22-year-old Indian gymnast had just become the first Indian to make it to the event finals of Vault at the World Championships last Saturday, after qualifying seventh — the top 8 line up for the individual apparatus finale. But the blown-up score at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow was also showing how her name had plunged in the overall tally. She had faltered on the Balance Beam — the toes never assured and slipping in uncertainty once, and sloppily landed on her backside very early on the Uneven Bars before she retrieved her nerve to finish her routine. She would finish an obscure 103rd in the all-around with a total of 49.966 (15.100 — Vault; 10.000 — Uneven Bars; 12.333 — Balance Beam; 12.533 — Floor Exercise). The Tripura girl was 26th on the table to make it to the Test event that will serve as qualification for the Rio Olympics, missing the grade of Top 24 by 0.5 points. She was watching her Olympic dream vamooze, her bounding leap on the Vault brought down shattering by her lacklustre showing on the other apparatus.

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On the biggest-achieving night of her gymnastics career — on the Produnova, her first jump, she had the 8th best score among 250 odd vaulters on that day — she was staring at a grim possibility that all her efforts could come to nought if she didn’t get on the podium of Vault a week later, or earn a wildcard — for which she was at the mercy of the international body, the FIG. “My performance wasn’t as great in the three events except for vaulting. So my mood was a little off,” said the fiery gymnast who has attracted global attention by attempting some of the most dangerous routines that are performed on the vaulting table.

“Actually I took too much pressure on the vault. I wasn’t aware I could be so narrowly close to the Test event scores and then missing it. The focus was entirely on vault, that went well but the rest wasn’t upto the mark. Some days things don’t click,” she said a day before she is to appear in the finals of the Vault.

But Dipa has not achieved what she has in the last year by sulking away the setbacks in her life. A Commonwealth Games bronze, another third place podium at the Asian Championships and now India’s first finalist at the Worlds, India’s best gymnast coming from one of the smallest states of the country, is known for her ferocious will when confronted with heavy odds. “It’s very tough, lekin main bhi kuchh chhodne waali nahi hoo. Main bhi apna poora zor lagaa doongi medal ke liye. Koi shaq bhi nai ki 1 per cent bhi usme kami rahegi,” she said defiantly.

Her father Dulal Karmakar remembers her as an extremely stubborn child who would disappear for hours on successive days till she perfected a particular manouvre at Agartala. “I won’t give up till the end. Whatever I have learnt in my life I will put into these two jumps of the final. Vault is a lot about luck, but I’m not leaving even a small percentage to chance.”

The odds are astounding. Though Vault is a promising event, with the incidence of a World Championship medallist from a ‘non-conventional’ country (beyond the US and Russia and Romania) being higher than on any other apparatus. “Anything can happen in this event. That’s why we love the risk,” Dipa says.

Up against the best

“The finals will be very difficult — there’s gymnasts from US and Russsia, and several Olympic gold, silver medallists in my final as well as World Championship finalists from last two times,” she explained.

Karmakar had won the Commonwealth Games at the same venue, but the first sighting of the strutting American team blazing in their blingy pink on qualification day, had been intimidating, she admits. “Yes, CWG was good, but there were 23-25 countries there, now there’s 90! This is the big one — I’ve never competed against Americans or Russians in finals. Nothing from the past matters,” she said.

Even failures of the poor qualifying day on other apparatus need to be forgotten, she insists. “She was the only girl among Indians at the World Championships. Just watching the Americans she was nervous,” father Dulal says.
On the Vault, Dipa’s been in good form, though not exactly in the medal-bracket. “The Tsukahara 720 was a new Vault, but I could perform it well and I was happy just to get the landing right. I scored more than I expected — 14.700 which was good for my first international attempt. Now I’ll hope to reach 15.000 on that one in the final, and get a better rank,” she said.

On the Produnova which boasts a Difficulty of 7.000 making it the sternest test for anyone in the finals, Dipa’s finished stumbling on squats a few times and is hoping for sticking a standing landing. “She needs to finish standing. That will push up her score,” coach Bisweshwar Nandi says.

“My confidence on that has grown over the last one year. But it’s 1 per cent luck,” she says over the telephone, hitting a wry tone. “It’s my best Vault. But I need some good fortune,” Dipa adds. “I can improve more than 15.100. At the Asian Championship, I’d done 15.300. I’ll aim for 15.500.”

All this decimal crunching — the all-important perfecting of her technique while keeping her poise — masks every sacrifice that has gone into reaching upto here. Dipa’s lost count of the Durga Pujas she’s missed in the last few years. “She talks about it, but these days she makes an effort to not sound sad,” says Dulal, who hasn’t met his daughter for six months now since the time she started on the camp in Delhi.

Dipa had travelled to Agartala to complete her BA in Pol Science earlier but has been holed up at the IG Stadium putting together the two complicated jumps on the vault.

It’s an eerie silence at home, given the Karmakar household had a hyperactive kid whiz around them for a decade and half — her restlessness helping the father decide she should be packed off to gymnastics. “I would’ve initially been happy if she just represented India internationally. In Tripura, former gymnasts Montu and Kalpana Debnath are spoken of with respect. But in the last one year I’ve told her to aim higher. I quit on gymnastics because it was too far from my house and I had to walk many kilometres,” says the weightlifting SAI coach. “But my daughter hasn’t learnt to give up,” he says with pride.

You’ll know the younger daughter’s home when the Karmakar household gives up on rice and starts cooking rotis. “You know how difficult that is for a Bengali!” the father laughs. “But compared to what my daughter’s doing, it’s nothing,” he says, suddenly emotional. When Dipa sprints down the ramp on Saturday and takes off for a jump — the difficulty considered steepest in the world — it’ll be nothing short of a leap of faith for the bold Indian who’s dared to fly. What she needs though is to stick a landing on her two steady feet.

Vault Finals: From 6.30 pm IST