In the ongoing Tokyo Olympics, Kamalpreet Kaur made it to the discus throw final after she finished above the current defending gold medalist Sandra Perkovic from Croatia. In the debut outing at the 2020 Olympics, Kamalpreet has succeeded to become the second ever Indian woman to qualify for the final of Discus Throw. The first ever Indian female discus thrower to make it to final was veteran discus thrower Krishna Poonia.
Details
A day after Assam’s Lovlina Borgohain punched her way into semi-final and secured a medal for herself, Olympics debutant Kamalpreet Kaur scripted another record by being the second ever female discus thrower to enter the final of the event after Krishna Poonia.
On a day where most of her competitors seemed out of their element, Kaur made the best out of the circumstances and ended above the current defending gold medalist Sandra Perkovic and below Allman Valarie from USA. However, Kamalpreet’s own inspiration and 2-time Olympian Krishna Poonia failed to qualify for the final.
#TeamIndia | #Tokyo2020 | #Athletics
Women's Discus Throw Qualification ResultsA superb 6⃣4⃣m throw by #KamalpreetKaur to qualify for the Finals in Group B, while #SeemaPunia bows out, finishing 6th in Group A! #RukengeNahi #EkIndiaTeamIndia #Cheer4India pic.twitter.com/7ZwoeX8rWy
— Team India (@WeAreTeamIndia) July 31, 2021
Krishna Poonia’s Underwhelming Start, All Hopes on Kamalpreet
The 25-year-old athlete threw the discus to 64 meter in her third and final attempt to then automatically be qualified for the final of the event which will be held on August 2. Kaur entered the stadium with hushed murmurs and lost hope as prior to her Punia had kickstarted her own campaign in a disappointing manner with a best throw of 60.57 m. Although Indian fans were hopeful that Kaur may be the dark horse in the contingent, not much of it was spoken with confidence, as it could’ve led to all of this being jinxed.
But Kaur delivered, and how!
First Attempt, Second Attempt, And Qualification
She started the campaign with her first attempt which reached 60.29 m. Although not a great start in any manner, it still was solid and gave Kaur a room to advance and add up. That’s exactly what she did in her second attempt which saw the discus travel a better 63.97m. While this was a significant improvement from her first attempt, it was also .03m away from her automatic qualification for the final.
Kamalpreet is Above Defending Gold Medalist and World Champion
In her third attempt, she directed all the strength and hopes she had to her throwing arm and let go of the discus which soared high and up to then fall at exactly 64m. This made her the second-best thrower on July 31 and now she sits comfortably above defending gold medalist Sandra Perkovic (63.75m) and reigning world champion Yaime Perez (63.18m).
Qualifying for the finals, Kaur has also become the third Indian to qualify for the discus throw event final at an Olympic. In 2012, Vikas Gowda became the first ever Indian to do so at the London Olympics. In the final though, he couldn’t secure a medal and finished 8th.
Kamalpreet’s Prior Achievements
The debutant was the first Indian to qualify for this years’ Olympics in discus throw and was at the best of her form recently as she had registered a massive 66.59m throw at the Indian Grand Prix 4. The distance was one which was never heard of – in both male and female discus throw. Since then, Kaur was looked by sporting enthusiasts as a dark horse.
She was not in part of lists of potential medal contenders for India but was almost always in lists where dark horses were discussed. Can she continue on her track and bring India a medal, only time has to tell.
