The current FIG Apparatus World Cup in Doha is a Paris Olympics qualifying event, and star gymnast Dipa Karmakar of India qualified for the women’s vault final on Wednesday after placing sixth in the qualifying round.
The 30-year-old earned 12.500 in the first vault and 13.066 in the second vault for a total of 12.783, which was good considering that he had placed fourth at the Baku Apparatus World Cup in Azerbaijan last month.
In the qualifying round, Navas Karla (13.916), Georgieva Valentina (13.316), and An Chang Ok (13.166) occupied the first three spots.
The finals are for the top eight qualifiers from the qualification round.
“I appreciate that SAI sent me. Dipa is now ranked sixth and hopes to improve in the championship. She has experienced a great deal. We are not thinking too much about Olympic qualification since it is difficult to fight against the finest in the world after two anterior cruciate ligament injuries, her longtime coach Bishweshwar Nandi told PTI.
The day of the final is set for Friday.
Despite placing 11th in the qualifying round, Pranati Nayak, the other Indian competitor, was unable to advance to the final.
Pranati, 29, who competed for India in the Tokyo Olympics and took home the bronze in the vault event at the Cairo World Cup in February, stumbled in the second vault and finished with a score of 12.416.
According to coach Ashok Kumar Mishra, “she had some ankle swelling, but the fall in the second vault was the main thing that affected her.”
Dipa, who had two knee surgeries in 2017 and 2019 to repair ACL tears and served a 21-month suspension for doping, is unlikely to make it to the vault finals in Paris because her current score for qualification to the Olympics is 34, and even a gold medal today will only raise her score to 64.
“Only two gymnasts from each apparatus will qualify from this tournament in the women’s vault, and Chang of Korea and Valentina of Bulgaria lead with 84 and 80 points, respectively,” Mishra stated.
Chang had lost against Valentina in the final World Cup in Baku.
Gymnasts compete in the Apparatus World Cup series and receive Olympic ranking points depending on their performance on each apparatus relative to other qualified gymnasts. 30 ranking points are awarded to the top-ranked eligible gymnast in a final; the second-best receives 25, and so on.
Only last year, after serving out his dope ban, did Dipa make a comeback. He did not take part in the World Cup held in Cottbus, Germany, from February 22 to 25.
Only last year, after serving out his dope ban, did Dipa make a comeback. He did not take part in the World Cup held in Cottbus, Germany, from February 22 to 25.
The last Olympic qualifying competition is the Asian Championship, which will take place in Uzbekistan from May 16–19.
Only one female, and that too in the all-around category, can qualify for the Asian Championships. It’s going to be really hard; our girls have to perform well in the vault as well as the other three apparatuses,” Mishra stated.