Dipa Karmakar: The Small Wonder (India's first ever female gymnast to compete in the Olympics)

About the Book

On August 14, 2016, a young girl, India’s first female gymnast to compete at the Olympics, landed the Produnova that took her to the cusp of an Olympic medal. She came fourth yet soared into the hearts of millions across the globe. Dipa Karmakar’s fourth-place finish at the Rio Olympic Games was a defining moment for Indian sport, which had barely cast a glance at the sport of gymnastics as a medal discipline till then. Dipa’s journey from Tripura, an oft-neglected sporting outpost, to the national consciousness and India’s highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, is one of grit, determination, and a stubbornness to beat the odds.

About the Author
Bishweshwar Nandi Bishweshwar Nandi is a recipient of the Dronacharya Award and is one of India's most iconic coaches. A five-time National individual champion, Bishweshwar captained the Indian Gymnastics team on six occasions, including the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi. A product of the famed assembly line of Tripura gymnasts created by the late Dalip Singh, Bishweshwar gave up lucrative job opportunities from government agencies to return to Tripura post his playing career. Since then he has been employed by the Government of Tripura and is posted at the Tripura Sports Council as a deputy director. Bishweshwar has been the man responsible for the emergence of Dipa Karmakar as one of the top gymnasts in the world. He has been guiding and honing her talent since she was ten. Together Bishweshwar and Dipa have redefined the goalposts for Indian gymnastics which culminated in Dipa's historic fourth-place finish in the women's vault at the 2016 Rio Olympics. When not assigned to the Indian team as coach, Bishweshwar stays in Agartala with his wife Soma, who is also a gymnastics coach, and son Akash. Digvijay Singh Deo Digvijay Singh Deo is one of India’s leading sports journalists and currently heads the sports team at Zee Media Corporation Limited’s global news channel World is One News, WION. He has previously worked with Star News, Doordarshan News, and CNN-IBN. An alumnus of IIMC, New Delhi, Digvijay chose to cover India’s Olympic sports persons very early on in his career and continues to strive to tell their stories, in victory or defeat or even in their formative years. In recognition of his contribution to the Olympic movement he was chosen as a torchbearer for the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay in 2008 in New Delhi by the Indian Olympic Association. He has also served on the committee to select the 2015 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Awardees. Digvijay has covered sport all over the planet and has interviewed global sports stars including Mark Spitz, Nadia Comaneci, Boris Becker, Roger Federer and Tiger Woods among others. He is also the author of My Olympic Journey, a book on fifty of India’s leading Olympians. From Odisha, Digvijay stays in Noida with his wife Sudeshna and son Vaivasvat Vijay. Vimal Mohan Vimal Mohan is the winner of the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Award (2012), and has dedicated himself to cover the Olympics, and any other adventure or marginalised sport, over the last two decades, infusing his journalism with infectious passion and unstinted commitment for the benefit of each sport and its followers. He started his career assisting renowned film directors Prakash Jha and Ashwini Choudhary and subsequently moved into the Indian television space. Vimal’s repertoire boasts of diversity, speaking of various films, documentaries, current affairs programs, election coverage, daily news programs, corporate films, articles in print and on websites and even a music video. After a brief stint at Sahara News, Vimal joined NDTV in 2003, bringing with him vast experience in reporting and production, including memorable interviews with major sports personalities, all along staying true to his love for Olympic sports. He has covered the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008, London in 2012, and Rio in 2016, Asian Games in Doha in 2006 and Guangzhou in 2010, the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010 and Glasgow in 2014. He has also covered 2003 Champions Trophy hockey in Amstelveen, FIH World Cup hockey in Delhi in 2010, and FIH Junior World Cup Hockey in Lucknow in 2016. Vimal was chosen to be part of the jury members of the most coveted National Dronacharya Award committee and Tenzing Norgay Award committee in 2018 and has also served as a Jury member for the selection of Most Valuable player after the 2010 Guanzhou Asiad.