Team-BHP - Olympian Dipa Karmakar may return BMW gifted to her

Quote:

Originally Posted by drmohitg (Post 4074511)

According to a live phone call to her father which was aired today morning on a FM channel by a famous RJ, her father dismissed these rumors. To the contrary he said that they still haven't received the BMW and have only been awarded the key at the ceremony. The car is yet to arrive and hence there is no question of returning it at all. So all this is mere media nonsense and please do not speculate more on basis of this.

I did see a tweet from her official account saying she was going to return it and they're working out equivalent monetary terms.

Quote:

Originally Posted by drmohitg (Post 4074511)

her father dismissed these rumors.

So all this is mere media nonsense and please do not speculate more on basis of this.

It's easy to blame the media, but this has been communicated officially by them (including on the Twitter handle).

From her official id:

Quote:

Very thankful to Sachin sir for gifting me BMW but cannot maintain in tripura, so giving back. Thank you for agreeing to give funds for it.

Refer to the statements made in this, this and this article.

I think the sequence of events was:

- They are awarded a BMW
- She decides that $$$ is probably better (and rightly so, it's her choice)
- BMW is furious after all the press yesterday
- Father retracts statement

And the story continues in today's Indian Express article:
Source

Quote:

...
The fourth place finisher in gymnastics at the Rio Olympics has returned the car gifted to her by the Hyderabad Badminton Association citing the absence of a service centre that could mend the vehicle should it break down in the town of narrow streets and potholed roads. However, residents of Agartala are not in the least miffed that their proud town has been mentioned in a none-too-glowing light by the star gymnast They think Dipa is quite justified to think that the town is already too small for her.
...

I think she didn't probably realise the reach and scale of virtual platforms like twitter. She could have easily approached BMW herself or even SRT if his advice/involvement was needed. Our media is anyways crazy. Another RJ today morning was condemning her for asking for money instead. I honestly feel she is not justified in asking for money in exchange. If that was the case she could have instead sold the car and infact it might have fetched her a better price that the OTR price too because of the value associated with it. Or may be BMW had some agreement where they have to keep the car and can't sell it off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao (Post 4074471)

Someone who can afford that kind of money as a gift would be much better advised to facilitate better training for the athlete. Makes no difference to the giver money-wise, and the recipient gains in a meaningful way instead of an impractical post-facto gift that may becomes a headache to maintain.

That makes me think, why don't our multi-millionaire sportspeople and tycoons who publicly bemoan the lack of support for these athletes, actually offer to adopt these athletes' responsibility? Even one each would go a long way I'd guess, and the rich chaps probably won't even notice the cash outgo.

4 BMWs were given away - 1 each to 2 medal winners, 1 to coach & other to Dipa. Other 3 are happy with their gift. Dipa requested cash in lieu of BMW and she got it, fair enough.
It is bit unfair to blame the gift giver. Maybe they are limited by their budget or even may not understand the sport itself to build and maintain the required facilities.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mpower (Post 4075029)

Well I dont think she deserved a BMW in the first place given that the other gal that won the bronze got the BMW. Not fair to her

Granted she lost the medal by a whisker but at the end of the day there is no medal

They should've given her a Octavia or something in the first place

Sorry, but I disagree.
With your logic silver medalist and bronze medalist should have got higher grade cars than Dipa Karmakar (though different - with silver medalist getting even higher), and coach should have been gifted even lesser vehicle.

I believe this girl made our nation proud by reaching to fourth position in a discipline where India's contribution and standing is very dismal. Also she successfully performed a jump - "Produnova" - most difficult sequence, even gold medalist in same event herself confessed she found 'Produnova' too dangerous to perform. Also, do consider that she comes from Agartala - a neglected north east state, and her struggle for infrastructure, training, exposure would be far greater than other sport persons from main stream states.

For me, with her very respectable fourth position in a gymnastic event, she put India on a world gymnastic map - no mean achievement in my opinion. Her missing medal was unfortunate - a novice lost to stalwarts.

I also respect her candid and somewhat bold stand coming out in open with her difficulty in maintaining BMW, and preferring cash - a less courageous person would have accepted the gift and either would have suffered while using it or would have taken auction route or something else.

With regards,
JLS

Agartala, or Tripura, or the entire NE does not have a BMW dealership or service center. Nearest one is in Kolkata.

So if you are a level headed normal person living in NE and know the cost of maintaining a bimmer, you would know what to do - don't get one!

She did the right thing by refusing the gift and requesting for cash equivalent, which she plans to use in preparation for her upcoming tournaments.

When BMW gifted Car directly or via someone, idea was to recognise achievements of Athletes but more importantly build their brand name and get associated with achievers. They spend a lot of money on Advertisement and must have provisioned under this heading. Now asking money instead of a Car from BMW in my personal opinion is not a great thing & maybe difficult even from the accounting point of view for BMW. If at all this was to be returned, should have been done quietly. Next time BMW or any other company will probably think twice before offering such gifts or even take an undertaking that Car will be kept for some minimum time :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JLS (Post 4077686)

With your logic silver medalist and bronze medalist should have got higher grade cars than Dipa Karmakar (though different - with silver medalist getting even higher), and coach should have been gifted even lesser vehicle.

I generally avoid getting into this kind of debates assiduously but could not resist putting in my observation here. I think this is exactly what they did. Only Deepa got the X1. Others were gifted higher models. I think Sindhu got a 320d, IIANM.