"No Passion, They Look For...": Olympian Dipa Karmakar Slams Current Generation Of Gymnasts

Just-retired Indian gymnastics star Dipa Karmakar believes most of the current generation of gymnasts lack passion and urged them to embrace the sport with fervour to excel on the global stage. Dipa, who blazed a trail by becoming the first Indian woman gymnast to compete at the Olympics and finish a historic fourth in 2016 Rio Games, retired earlier this month, ending a career in which she inspired awe for routinely performing the highly-difficult Produnova vault.

"There was junoon (passion) in Dipa, that is why. Same for Pranati," she said when asked why there is only one Dipa or Pranati Nayak among Indian women gymnasts winning medals on the international stage.

"I can't see this junoon (passion) much in the current generation (of gymnasts). I feel they look for short term, instant success," she said on Friday night during a panel discussion at an event titled 'Beyond the Finish Line', organised by Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon.

The diminutive 31-year-old from Tripura grabbed headlines with her fourth-place finish in the vault final of the 2016 Rio Games, losing an Olympic medal by just 0.15 points.

Tokyo Olympian Pranati has won a vault bronze medal each in the 2019 and 2022 Asian Championships. Hailing from Agartala, Dipa is one of only five women in gymnastics history to have successfully executed the Produnova, which involves two somersaults before landing and is called the 'vault of death' owing to the high risk of injury it poses.

She felt that the problems plaguing the national federation for some time has also not helped the cause of Indian gymnastics.

"There was problem between the SAI and federation. For example, the selection criteria for the last Asian Games (2023) were known only after the actual trials.

"I