English no hurdle, Dipa Karmakar smiles and makes friends with international athletes

Indian gymnastics’ golden girl Dipa Karmakar may have missed an Olympic medal in Rio by a fraction, but she got the sweet taste of redemption in Turkey recently where she took the women’s vault gold medal at the Mersin World Challenge Cup. While Karmakar is earning laurels on the global stage and crossing barriers usually associated with coming from a small town, the barrier of language at international events is a big one to jump over.

“I have met and interacted with athletes from different countries and sometimes, language is a problem. But we do manage to understand each other,” the 24 – year–old told ETPanache recently. She more than makes up for her lack of English skills by using the universal sign of friendship – a smile. “I don’t speak good English, but I manage with a smile and talk to them however I can. There are athletes from Russia and China who also don’t speak English well, but we still communicate.” Spoken like a champion.