Tashkent. Top Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian gymnast to win a gold medal at the Asian Senior Championships by bagging the yellow medal in the women’s vault event here on Sunday. Dipa (30 years old) scored an average of 13.566 in the vault final on the last day of the competition. North Korea’s Kim Son Hyang (13.466) and Jo Kyong Byol (12.966) won the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Dipa, who finished fourth in the vault final at the Rio Olympics 2016, won a bronze medal in the same event in the 2015 edition. Ashish Kumar won a bronze medal in individual floor exercise at the 2015 Asian Championships. Pranati Nayak also won bronze medals in the vault event in the 2019 and 2022 editions. Dipa, who made a comeback last year after a 21-month suspension due to doping violations, is out of the race for the upcoming Paris Olympics.