Doha (Qatar), AGU Office: India will hope Olympian Dipa Karmakar return to action following an operation in April, and help win medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia after their indifferent show at the 47th FIG Artistic World Championships in Montreal, Canada, last week.

Karmakar is nearing the end of a long rehab now after her surgery in April.

Pranati Nayak, ranked 68th in Montreal out of 96 in women’s individual qualification, scored a mere 42.866 points while Aruna Reddy Budda finished 69th with 42.865 points.

The two-member men’s team too finished way down in individual all-round qualification. Yogeshwar Singh scored 73.365 to finish 41st in a field of 59 while Siddarth Verma (69.497) came 53rd.

Karmakar has not competed since the Rio Games last year, preferring to go under the knife for a knee injury — a Grade 2 tear that became a Grade 3 tear during the Olympics.

The 24-year-old has started training, but gave the Montreal Worlds a skip as it didn’t fit into her schedule.

“I’ve started training, but don’t want to rush,” she told Hindustan Times. “The competition is six months away. I’ve enough time to polish my skills.”

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, Karmakar became the first Indian to win a bronze in vault and was also the first Indian to qualify for the final in Rio.

But in April this year, she injured the right knee and was advised surgery. Dipa said her target was a podium finish in the Commonwealth Games in April.

“We’ve to help her regain her fitness. Once I feel she’s back to her normal training, I’ll phase the Produnova back into her routine,” said her coach Biseswar Nandi.