Gymnast Dipa Karmakar, who missed the bronze medal in the vault final at the Rio Olympics but won hearts across the world, returned to India on Saturday morning.

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Karmakar arrived at the Delhi airport in the early hours of the day to a hero's welcome by fans. A medal hope, Karmakar missed a third place finish at Rio by a whisker.

On her return, Karmakar told ANI, "I knew I could reach 7th, 8th position but had never even thought of a fourth place. I'm very happy."

The athlete, who has been nominated for the Khel Ratna, said, "Agar medal milta toh shayad ye award leke mai bahaut khush hoti (If I had won the medal, I would have been very happy with this award.)

Her coach Bisheshwar Nandi shared the sentiment, saying, "I am happy. Would have been even more happy if we had got a medal."

Dipa's success story began in 2002 when she became the champion in the North-East games at the age of nine. From 2007 onwards she consistently won junior and senior national titles capped by a Bronze medal winning performance in the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Between 2010 and 2014, Dipa won five National Championships, winning five gold medals each at two national games in Jharkhand and Kerala. Since 2007, Dipa bagged 77 medals, including 67 gold, in various state, national and international championships.

With her now famous Produnova vault, Dipa is currently one of the most admired gymnasts in the globe.

After failing to make it within last three in the vault final last Sunday, Dipa told reporters over phone from Rio,"I apologise for not being able to fulfil the dream and expectations of the people of my country and my tiny state which supported me always. I only promise that in the next Olympic in Tokyo, I would bring laurel for you. This is my promise and I would work hard for it."

With inputs from ANI/PTI.