Dipa Karmakar Returns BMW Presented By Sachin Tendulkar, Buys Elantra

PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik, and Dipa Karmakar brought laurels to the country with their stunning performances in the 2016 Rio Olympics. To commemorate their respective accomplishments, Sachin Tendulkar presented BMW cars, sponsored by Mr Chamudeswarnath, president of the Hyderabad Badminton Association of India, to the athletes and badminton coach Pullela Gopichand. However, gymnast Dipa Karmakar has given her BMW back and bought a Hyundai Elantra instead.

Karmakar returned the BMW due to two reasons: one, poor roads in her hometown. Second, was the lack of a BMW service centre in Agartala. Dipa had earlier told IANS, "There is no showroom or service centre of BMW car in Tripura. If the car developed any technical snag during driving, how would I repair this? There are also not sufficient suitable roads in Agartala and other places of the mountainous state to ply the luxury car."

She added, "Sir (her coach Bisheshwar Nandi) discussed these matters with V. Chamundeshwarnath. He agreed to deposit money equal to a BMW car cost to my bank account. We would be happy whatever amount they give instead of the BMW car."

Hyundai launched the latest generation model of the Elantra in India at Rs. 12.99 lakh (introductory; ex-showroom, Delhi). The car is offered with both petrol and diesel engine options, namely, an all-new 150bhp 2.0-litre petrol and 126bhp 1.6-litre diesel engines. Transmission options for both the engines include a 6-speed manual gearbox and a 6-speed automatic unit. As mentioned in our review, the car gets ample safety provisions too including driver and passenger airbags and ABS with EBD as standard equipment. The Elantra recently won the midsize sedan award at the Car And Bike Awards 2017.

After Dipa bought the new car, her coach Bisweswar Nandi was quoted by the Hindustan Times as saying, "Her family bought a car (Elantra) recently, and it was a brand that has a service centre in Agartala."