Indian trendsetting gymnast Dipa Karmakar will compete in the vault final at Rio Olympics 2016 tonight. Crores of Indians are looking at the event and are hopeful that she might get a medal for us.
But the 23-year-old Tripura girl will face very tough competitions from the likes of American Simone Biles — women’s all-round champion at Rio — and Russian Maria Paseka — London 2012 bronze medallist, and Beijing 2008 gold medallist Hong Un-jong of North Korea.
Simone Biles (USA): The 19-year-old American sensation made a mockery of the field when she produced a score of 16.050 from her two vaults (6.300D; 9.700E and 6.400D; 9.700E).
She will enter the finals as the favourite, and rightly, she is the one to look out for.
Hong Un-Jong (North Korea): She is first North Korean female gymnast to win a medal at the Olympics. At Beijing 2008, she outclassed German vault legend Oksana Chusovitina.
During the Rio qualifiers, the 27-year-old Korean produced a brilliant scoring routine. She is more than capable of improving her score of 15.683.
Giulia Steingruber (Switzerland): She is the dark-house among the eight finalist. After ruling the European circuits for more than two years, Steingruber is looking for that big Olympic medal.
It has to be seen if Dipa can win a medal for us and keep the Indian flag flying.
