India’s first female gymnast ever to compete in the Olympics Dipa Karmakar will now be told in a memoir to be co-authored by her coach Bishweshwar Nandi.
Tentatively titled "Dipa Karmakar: The Small Wonder, the book will have many untold stories of struggle and triumph besides rare archival photos from the Karmakars' private album as well as competition photos from the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
The book, written by Vimal Mohan, Digvijay Singh Deo and Nandi and published by Fingerprint!, is slated for release next August.
"The struggle that Dipa has undergone all these years is a struggle which each and every kid playing sport should know about. Through this story we want to tell everyone in this country that no small dream is impossible," says Nandi.
"I am delighted to represent this beautiful, remarkable and one of a kind story. Although Dipa's rise has just begun, and she will have achieved much bigger milestones at the end of her career, I believe this is the right time to share her story with her fans and anyone who wants to read about an individual's triumph against all perceivable odds," says literary agent Kanishka Gupta.
According to Publisher Shikha Sabharwal, "Indian sports need attention, support and encouragement and it is through great sports-people like Dipa that we can inspire our future generations. Dipa's struggle against all odds continues... and we are proud to publish her untold story of grit and passion." Dipa had narrowly missed the bronze by finishing fourth in the women's vault event at Rio.
She ended up 15.066 points as the gold went to favourite Simona Biles from the US (15.966), the silver to Russia's Maria Paseka (15.253) and the bronze to Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland (15.216).
(With inputs from PTI)
