Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals honours rare feat of Olympian Dipa Karmakar

Kolkata: Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, the pioneer of state-of-the-art healthcare services in Eastern India, is well known for the promotion of sports and games.

Under the visionary leadership of Dr Rupali Basu, president and CEO ER, Apollo Hospitals Group, India, the hospital has associated with major sporting events like the ISL, IPL and the ICC World Twenty 20, 2016, besides partnering with bodies like the CAB, Mohun Bagan A.C. and East Bengal F.C. Continuing with this glorious tradition, the hospital was the principal organizer of a felicitation of olympian Dipa Karmakar, in a star-studded event organized at the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industries.

Dipa Karmakar, the diminutive Arjuna Awardee,did the nation proud as the first woman gymnast from India to qualify for an Olympics. She was also the first Indian gymnast to carry the nation�s banner at this global celebration of sports in 52 years.

Her rare feat at the Rio Olympics, 2016, where she competed with the best in the world, and missed out on a podium finish by a whisker, has served to ignite a renewed interest in athletics in the country, especially in the eastern region. Her felicitation was therefore a humble acknowledgement of an unmatched contribution to the promotion of sports and games, especially among women.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Rupali Basu, said, �Dipa serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration for all sections of the society. Her journey from the backwaters of Tripura to the world stage of Rio 2016 is studded with rare feats and achievements, as is evident from the 77 medals, including 67 gold medals in state, national and international championships, that she has won since 2007.

She has also done us proud by creating history as the first Indian athlete to win a medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, bagging the bronze in the star-studded event at Glasgow. We applaud her achievement, and hope that she continues to scale new heights in the days to come.�