India's Kamalpreet Kaur on Saturday qualified for the final of the women's discus throw at the Tokyo Olympics. Seema Punia, India's other entry in the event and a four-time Olympian, however, failed to make the cut.
Competing in Group B, 25-year-old Kamalpreet threw 60.29m in her first attempt. He improved a lot in his second attempt, throwing 63.97m. In his third and final attempt, Kamalpreet threw exactly 64 metres, which was required for automatic qualification in the final on August 2. If the athletes don't make that mark, the 12 best performers make it to the finals.
Kamalpreet finished ahead of gold medalist Sandra Perkovic (63.75m) of Croatia and reigning world champion Yaime Perez (63.18m) of Cuba. Perkovic qualified for third and Perez in seventh. Valerie Allman of the United States was the only other athlete to make the automatic qualifying mark, throwing 66.42 meters in her first attempt to make the final.
Kamalpreet, a resident of Kabarwala village on the Malout-Abohar National Highway in Punjab, was born in a farming family.
“She has a SAI center in Badal near her village and we have been training there from 2014 to last year. Due to COVID, everything was closed and she was feeling sad (last year). She wanted to compete. It was, especially in the Olympics, Kamalpreet's coach Rakhi Tyagi told PTI.
She said, "She was feeling restless and it is true that she started playing cricket but it was not for any tournament nor to become a professional cricketer. She is playing cricket only in the playgrounds of her village. Was."
Sports Authority of India coach Tyagi could not accompany Kamalpreet to Tokyo as her name did not figure in the long list submitted to Olympic organizers months ago, but felt her ward could win a medal this time if she did her best.
"I talk to her everyday, she was a little nervous today because it was her first Olympics and I'm not even with her. I told her not to take any pressure and just give my best. I think high 66 or 67 meter. Get him and the country an athletics medal." Kamalpreet, who is working in Railways, is in excellent form this year.
She threw 65.06m to break the national record during the Federation Cup in March and became the first Indian woman to break the 65m mark.
Then in June, she bettered her own national record with a throw of 66.59m during the Indian Grand Prix-4 and was ranked sixth on the list of best throws in the world this year.
Kamalpreet, who stands at 6'1", was previously reluctant to pursue athletics due to her family's poor financial condition and early opposition from her mother, but took it up after her farmer father, Kuldeep Singh, supported her.
Singh has 13 acres of agricultural land. Initially, Kaur was chasing the shot put but entered the discus throw after Badal joined the SAI center.
His sports teacher at his school in Badal introduced him to athletics, which allowed him to participate in zonal and district level competitions in 2011-12. Kamalpreet agreed but decided that she would not put additional financial burden on her father, who looked after a joint family.
She participated in the Under-18 National Junior Championships in Discus Throw in 2013 and finished second. After joining the SAI Center in Badal in 2014, she became the National Junior Champion the following year.
In 2016, he won his first senior national title, claiming gold with a throw of 54.25m at the Open Nationals in Lucknow.
She went on to win senior national titles for the next three years before suddenly breaking out earlier this year, when she shifted her training base to NIS Patiala.
Before leaving for Tokyo, Kamalpreet had sought advice from Commonwealth Games gold medalist Krishna Poonia, who is India's best-performing athlete so far in the Olympics.
"She asked how to go to the Olympics. Since it was her first Olympics, it seems she was under a bit of stress. I told her to just play with a free mind, don't think about medals, just do your personal best. Think for it, said Poonia, who finished sixth in the 2012 Olympic final.
"She has a bright chance of winning a medal. This will be the biggest moment in Indian athletics and women of the country will start participating in discus throw and athletics. I am keeping my fingers crossed," Poonia said. Kamalpreet broke up in March.
Dronacharya award winning former discus throw coach Virender Poonia said Kaur has the requisite talent to become the top thrower in the world.
“Her physique, height, arm length and strength are all you need for a top discus thrower. If she does her best in the finals, it is 100 percent sure that she will win an Olympic medal in Tokyo. " he said.
Veteran Punia started his efforts in Group B with a foul throw. In her second attempt, she threw 60.57m while in her third attempt she got a throw of 58.93m. Punia finished sixth in her group and 16th overall and was out early for her fourth Olympic Games.
Kamalpreet came to Tokyo on the back of some good form. She is the first Indian to throw over 65m, and holds the national record with a throw of 66.59m at the Indian Grand Prix-4 at NIS, Patiala in June 2021. His earlier best and previous national record was 65.06m. , set in March 2021.
Meanwhile, Punia had made a comeback this season after winning a bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. The 38-year-old Haryana athlete booked an Olympic berth with a throw of 63.72m at the National Inter-State Championships in Patiala on June 29, the last day of the qualification deadline. Punia, whose personal best of 64.84m came in 2004, never qualified for an Olympic final.
In this edition's final on Monday, Kamalpreet has a chance to become the first Indian athlete since Norman Pritchard in 1900 to win a track-and-field medal. Pritchard won silver in the men's 200 meters and men's 200 meters hurdles at the 1900 Paris Games.