Gymnast Dipa Karmakar returns BMW car presented by Sachin Tendulkar, purchases new car

New Delhi, Dec 30: India's star gymnast Dipa Karmakar has finally returned the BMW car presented to her by cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar for her exploits at Rio Olympics 2016.

Dipa Karmakar wants cash for training instead of BMW car

The 22-year-old gymnast, earlier stated that she would prefer cash instead of the BMW car for it will be difficult for her to maintain the car as there are no service centres for the luxury vehicle in Tripura and the roads in the mountainous state are not suitable for such a car.

"Her family bought a car (Elantra) recently, and it was a brand that has a service centre in Agartala," Karmakar's coach Bisweswar Nandi was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times after she finally managed to get purchase her new car.

Dipa, alongwith the two Indian medallists from the Rio Games - badminton star PV Sindhu and wrestler Sakshi Malik - and Sindhu's coach Pullela Gopichand, received a BMW car each in August for their achievements at the Olympics from the Hyderabad District Badminton Association (HDBA).

"If we got the money instead of the BMW car then we can utilise the money for my training purposes," Dipa was earlier quoted by IANS as saying.

Dipa also insisted that she does not want to return the gift and was forced to take the decision to return the premier vehicle only due to maintenance problems that she envisaged facing in Tripura.

(Can't return BMW gifted by Sachin 'sir': Dipa)

"It is beyond my dreams to return the gift as I received the key of the car from none other than India's cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar. I know very well that a gift cannot be returned. Controversy over the issue is unexpected," Dipa said.

The Tripura girl had missed out on a medal by a fraction of a point in the women's vault event. She had executed the extremely difficult Produnova vault at the Games which had earned her a lot of appreciation.

OneIndia News