Gymnast Dipa narrowly misses medal in Olympic vault final

Rio de Janeiro : Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar missed out on a historic medal in the women's vault competition by a whisker as she finished a creditable fourth in the final of the Olympic Games here on Sunday.

Dipa averaged 15.066 points to finish fourth.

Simone Biles of the US won the gold with an average of 15.966, while Maria Paseka (15.253) of Russia and Switzerland's Giulia Steingrubber (15.216) took home the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Dipa scored a total of 14.8661 points with her first attempt which included 6.000 points for difficulty and 8.866 for execution.

The Tripura gymnast then attempted her renowned Produnova vault in her second attempt. Her run up and the spins in the air were perfect, but the landing saw her falter a bit which ultimately proved to be costly.

The judges awarded Dipa 7.000 points for difficulty and 8.266 for execution and the second attempt total of 15.266 saw her finish with an average of 15.066.

Dipa was at the second spot at that stage behind then leader Steingruber. But she was pushed to the second spot after Maria's attempt which saw the Russian score 15.266 and 15.241 with her first and second attempts respectively.

The 23-year-old from Agartala soon drooped to the fourth position after Biles brilliant attempt and agonisingly missed out on a medal by 0.15 point margin.