KOLKATA: “Didi, my best friend is not talking with me,” a budding gymnast ran up to her coach seeking intervention. The coach was all ears and promised to look into the matter.This has been a new journey for coach Dipa Karmakar, who almost single-handedly put Indian gymnastics on the world map. The girl from Agartala has taken up coaching some months back and is handling kids at the beginner’s stage. “I myself started gymnastics around the age of five or six. So it’s more like travelling back in time for me,” Dipa told TOI.For all the kids rolling over the gymnastics pit at the Netaji Subhash Regional Coaching Centre (NSRCC) in Agartala, Dipa is more like an elder sister than a coach. “They have little knowledge about my achievements. They come up to me with all sorts of issues. I have to even do their hair sometimes,” Dipa laughed. “I am an elder sister and I love it that way.”The only Olympian gymnast from the country, Dipa retired in Oct, 2024 after becoming the first Indian to clinch a top podium at the continental meet by winning gold in vault at the Asian Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships earlier that year. She successfully completed the Level 1 coaching course before taking up the new role. However, she admitted that her retirement call was difficult.“She wanted to continue till Glasgow Commonwealth Games,” her long-time coach Bishweshwar Nandi said. “She was almost in tears, requesting me to allow her to continue. But I knew her body would not have sustained it. She could have met with serious injuries” Nandi said.“She had already undergone an ACL surgery and faced recurring knee and leg injuries. I could not have risked it,” he added.“I wanted to stay close to the game that has given me everything in life,” Dipa said about her coaching aspirations. “I am slowly getting into the shoes. It’s nice to work with kids. They are like soft clay and you can make the perfect figure out of them.”Already two of her students, Sreeparna Debnath and Shreyanshi Roy, are showing promise. With the Indian gymnasts returning empty-handed from Glasgow, Dipa is eyeing the 2030 Games in Ahmedabad for a revival. “There cannot be anything better than winning CWG medals at home,” she stated.
