Dipa Karmakar eyes Tokyo berth with good outings in Baku and Doha

New Delhi, March 13: Indian ace Dipa Karmakar will look to clinch the Tokyo Olympics 2020 berth with some good outings at the ensuing Artistic Gymnastics World Cups in Baku (March 14-17 and Doha (March 20-23).

The 25-year-old had claimed a bronze at the vault event of the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Cottbus, Germany in November 2018, to make a strong bid for her Tokyo Olympics qualification.

It was Dipa's first appearance after recovering from a knee strain, which had spoilt her chances at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, where she missed the vault final and also had to pull out of the team event.

However, she recovered in time to secure a third-spot finish at Cottbus, keeping alive her chances of Olympic qualification.

Although Dipa skipped the World Cup in Melbourne (February 21-24), she is now eyeing good outings at Baku and Doha.

"This time the Olympic qualifications is through several routes including the World Cups. I want to explore all possible routes to increase my chances for the 2020 Olympic qualifications and my confidence has risen after winning a medal at the World Cup in Germany last year," Dipa was quoted as saying in a recent interview.

Eying 2020 @Olympics, @DipaKarmakar to compete at World Cups in Baku and Doha

Read: https://t.co/KnAm7joAyh pic.twitter.com/8mbQaKtUsy

— Times of India (@timesofindia) February 6, 2019

"I hope to produce some good performances and progress towards the Olympics," added the gymnast from Agartala, who had vaulted her way to a fourth place finish at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The two upcoming tournaments are part of an eight-event qualifying system for the Tokyo Olympics 2020, under which the gymnasts will make the cut based on the their top three scores.

(With PTI inputs)