When Dipa Karmakar's coach nearly got the stick... literally

Dipa Karmakar's coach Bisheswar Nandi had once sought the intervention of the Tripura government to "save the career" of the promising gymnast from "unnerving conspiracies"

Agartala: Dipa Karmakar's coach Bisheswar Nandi had once sought the intervention of the Tripura government to "save the career" of the promising gymnast from "unnerving conspiracies".

Dipa Karmakar's coach Bisheswar Nandi

In a letter to the Secretary of the Tripura Sports Council on February 9, 2012, Nandi had explained the threat to her career as emanating from Gurdial Singh Bawa, the chief coach of the Gymnastics Federation of India.

"When I raised the issue of deliberate partiality to pull Dipa down to second place in a tournament in Bangladesh, Bawa threatened to come to Agartala with a stick to chastise me," Nandi wrote.

"I have told him to come with a pistol if he can," Nandi added. Nandi detailed how Dipa was relegated to second place to ensure the first position in the Sultana Kamal championships in Dhaka went to Meenakshi, a protege of Bawa. When Nandi raised the issue after the tournament, Bawa was furious and threatened to destroy both Nandi as a coach and his promising protege Dipa.

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