Dipa Karmakar lauds SAI for sports development in recent years

Mumbai: Star Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar lauded the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for their efforts to develop drive sports in the country.

Dipa, who became the first woman gymnast from the country to qualify for the Olympics, believes that although there was not much infrastructure for athletes in her field during her younger days, the SAI, in the last few years, has made enough developments for sportspersons to prosper.

“These problems were there when I was younger,” said Dipa, on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai on Monday.

“But then SAI gave us full equipments in 2011,” she said. “I'm really happy that, after I qualified for the Olympics (Rio), a lot of development is happening.

“The Indira Gandhi stadium was already quite developed. Now they've developed it even more,” said Dipa.

The 23-year-old also had a few inspirational words for the young athletes from India: “I would just like to tell the young athletes to work hard and do something good for themselves.”