Gymnast Dipa eyes historic medal in Rio vault final

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 13  Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar, who has already created history by qualifying for the final round of the individual vault final of artistic gymnastics, will be in line to script a bigger one when she competes for a medal at the Rio Olympics here on Sunday.

The 22-year-old qualified for the final round in the individual vault final of artistic gymnastics after finishing eighth in the standings.

Competing in the third sub-division, Dipa had an average score of 51.665.

She managed to perform her much-vaunted "Produnova" vault cleanly to score 14.850 on the vault, 11.666 on the uneven bars 12.866 in balance beam and 12.033 in floor exercises.

The Tripura gymnast scored executed the "Produnova" in her first attempt on the vault to 15.100 with 8.1 for execution and 7.00 for difficulty.

By time she finished, Deepa was sixth in vaults and 27th overall and had to endure a nervous wait of five hours for the other two sub-divisions to finish. The top eight qualify for the final.

Dipa's chances seemed bleak after she fell to the seventh spot when Simone Biles of the US scored 16.050 in the vault event.

She dropped another rung to eighth when Canada's Shallon Olsen's terrific effort of 14.950 on the vault rejiged the overall standings further.

In the event on Sunday, she will be face tough challenge from the first seven top medal contenders.

Brazil's Rebeca Andrade, Russian duo of Seda Tutkhalian and Aliya Mustafina who finished second and third respectively on the overall standings, will give tough fight to the Indian.

Dipa, who is the first female Indian gymnast at the Olympics, became the first Indian, across both genders, to qualify for a final event in gymnastics at the Summer Games.

Dipa's coach Bisweshar Nandy has ruled her chance as high, saying "Any of the eight finalists can bag medals, as only half a point separates them".