They paved way for gymnast from Agartala to Rio

Dipa Karmakar is 25% short of perfection in the Produnova, considered the riskiest vault in gymnastics. Behind the 75% she has mastered and everything else she has achieved as a gymnast are a host of people — right from her parents to her school headmistress and an invisible hand from Haryana.

Dipa, 22, became the toast of the nation after becoming the first Indian gymnast to qualify for the Olympics, considered the Holy Grail of sporting excellence.

But the youngster is the just the latest among several youngsters from Tripura in the country’s remote Northeast to excel in gymnastics, not among the most popular sport in India.

Although the credit for grooming Dipa as a world class athlete is given to Biseshwar Nandi, the man who made Tripura synonymous with gymnastics is Dalip Singh, an Army physical instructor from Haryana’s Mahendragarh district.

RAHUL KARMAKAR/HT Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar with coach Biseshwar Nandi, who groomed her to become a world-class athlete.