Book Review : Dipa Karmakar: In Perfect Balance

Last year, while reading Rachel Ignotofsky’s Women in Sports: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win, one had hoped that there would come a time when Indian publishers would consider such a book on the considerable achievements of women athletes in India.

Sreelata Menon’s book on Dipa Karmakar seems to be the first baby step in this direction. This slim volume takes readers through the arc of Karmakar’s life — the first Indian female gymnast to participate in the Olympics, and, whose bold decision to perform the risky Produnova almost fetched her a medal at the 2016 summer Olympics. Behind that near-miss is the story of a lifetime of discipline and a refusal to accede to roadblocks. Karmakar grew up in Agartala, a city not particularly known for its gymnastic culture. She had flat feet and no access to proper training facilities. But she had parents who believed that she could overcome all of these and coaches who worked with her to realise her true potential. This is a book that is important because it starts a long-needed conversation about our women athletes.

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