India’s ace gymnast Dipa Karmakar from Tripura has opted out of the upcoming Commonwealth Games due to a career-threatening knee injury she picked up last year, 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),” said Nandi.
“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 undergoing a long rehabilitation process. She has, however, started training, according to Nandi. Due to the injury she was unable to compete since the Rio Olympics.
She 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.
She scripted history in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, becoming the first Indian woman to win a medal in gymnastics. She also won a bronze in the 2015 Asian Championships.