India’s top gymnast Dipa Karmakar has been forced out of the upcoming Commonwealth Games owing to the career-threatening knee injury she picked up in 2017, her coach Bisweshwar Nandi said on Tuesday.
“She is not yet ready for a tournament like the Commonwealth Games. So, the target is to make her fully ready for the Asian Games (August 18-September 2),” Nandi said.
Karmakar, the first Indian female to compete in the Olympics, where she finished a historic fourth in the women’s vault at the 2016 Rio Games, opted out of the CWG trials taking place at the Indira Gandhi Stadium here.
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The Gold Coast Games take place from April 4-15. “She is fit but needs more time to be competition-ready. I would not call it a setback and she has taken it very sportingly,” added the coach.
The 24-year-old had undergone an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) surgery in April 2017 and is continuing to undergo a lengthy rehabilitation process. She has, however, started training, according to Nandi.
The nature of the injury, which she picked up during a training camp, has not allowed her to compete since the Rio Olympics. She had scripted history at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, becoming the first Indian woman to win a medal in gymnastics in the mega-event. Karmakar had also secured a bronze in the 2015 Asian Championships.
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