Dipa Karmakar named in 10-member artistic gymnastics squad for Asian Games

A fit again Dipa Karmakar was on Tuesday named in the Indian gymnastics squad for the Asian Games, making it a comeback event for the 24-year-old after a career-threatening injury.

Karmakar topped the trials ahead of Pranati Das, Aruna Reddy, Mandira Chowdhury and Pranati Nayak, who all have also made the Asian Games squad.

A fit again Dipa Karmakar was on Tuesday named in the Indian gymnastics squad for the Asian Games, making it a comeback event for the 24-year-old after a career-threatening injury.

The men and women squads in the artistic gymnastics were picked after the two-day trials concluded at the Indira Gandhi Stadium here.

Karmakar topped the trials ahead of Pranati Das, Aruna Reddy, Mandira Chowdhury and Pranati Nayak, who all have also made the Asian Games squad.

Rakesh Patra topped the men’s trials ahead of Yogeshwar Singh, Gaurav Kumar, Ashish Kumar and Siddharth Verma.

The squad for rhythmic gymnastics will be announced tomorrow.

Karmakar has not competed since her historic fourth place finish in Rio Olympics and had undergone an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) surgery in April 2017.

It remains to be seen how Karmakar performs at big stage after a two-year gap.

Her coach Bisweshwar had pulled Karmakar out of the Commonwealth Games trial as she was nowhere near full fitness.

In her absence, the Indian contingent had disappointed at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.

Karmakar and Patra are expected to take part in a competition in Turkey next month ahead of the August 18-September 2 Asian Games.