Star Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar has undergone a successful surgery on her right knee and thus been been ruled out of the 2017 Asian Gymnastics Championship to be held in Thailand on April 17 and 18.
The 23-year-old, first Indian gymnast to qualify for the Olympics after a gap of 52 long years, suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury only last week during her training session at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in the Capital here. Dipa reached Mumbai only on Monday to consult famous sports medicine surgeon Dr Anant Joshi.
“Dr Joshi told Dipa that injury is not so bad and can be operated immediately. And she agreed then and there and got it operated the same day,” Riyaz Bhati, vice president of Gymnastics Federation of India, told DNA.
Dr Joshi is a renowned sports surgeon and also treated Indian star batsman Sachin Tendulkar.
Bhati further said that all medical expenses are being born by SAI (Sports Authority of India). “She is being accompanied by SAI physio, Mir Sajjad, and even started her rehabilitation programme today (Tuesday). Apart from going through few exercises, Dipa was made to walk for some distance,” added Bhati.
Hailing from the remote state of Tripura, Dipa finished fourth and missed a medal by a whisker in the pole vault event at Rio Games. She has been advised to keep away from formal training for at least a month. However, she is expected to be discharged from hospital by Saturday.
Dipa shot into limelight by winning bronze in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In fact, she is only the fifth woman in the history of gymnastics to land the extremely dangerous Produnova Vault.
A five-time national overall individual champion between 2010-2014, Dipa finished fourth in the Asian Games in Incheon but went on to win bronze at the Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships in Japan the following year.
