Dipa revives Duleep Singh’s gymnastics legacy in Tripura

Agartala, August 18 

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Three decades after his death, the memory of soldier-turned-legendary gymnastics coach Duleep Singh has again come alive with Dipa Karmakar’s performance at the Rio Olympics bringing global attention on Tripura.

“Duleep Singh is the father figure of the Tripura gymnastics and Dipa Karmakar is the finest-ever creation of this tiny state,” said Mantu Debnath, India’s second Arjuna award winner in gymnastics after Olympian Shyam Lal Khullar and Tripura’s most famous gymnast before Dipa. 

“Due to the hard and devoted work of Duleep Singh, Tripura so far has claimed 18 team and seven individual national titles and produced three Arjuna award winners,” Debnath said.

Two of the Arjuna awardees, Mantu Debnath and Kalpana Debnath, trained under Singh. Dipa, the third, credits her success to coach Bisheshwar Nandi, who, in turn, is a Singh product. Debnath said that Singh created an ambience that attracted many youngsters to take to gymnastics in Tripura. Singh, a lance naik and sports instructor in the Army from Haryana, was asked by NIS Patiala in 1964 to examine how to promote gymnastics in Tripura.

“Within a year of Singh’s arrival, Tripura won its first national gold medal — any sport, any level — through Bharat Kishore Debbarman in the floor exercises routine at the National School Games,” Tripura Gymnastic Association founder-secretary Rupen Bhowmik said. 

“Within the first 10 years, Singh conducted two gymnastics nationals in Agartala and invited gymnasts from Russia, Germany and China to stage displays at the famous Umakanta Academy ground,” said Bhowmik.

Singh passed away in 1987, aged only 55. “My husband’s influence on gymnastics transferred from generation to generation. His hard work for gymnastics, dedication, love for the students and producing new coaches has now yielded results in Tripura,” Singh’s wife Sushila Devi, 75, said. — IANS