Indian Discus Thrower, Kamalpreet Kaur, made it to the history books on Sunday by becoming only the 2nd Indian woman to enter the Olympic Finals. Previously, Krishna Poonia, who finished sixth in the discus throw at the 2012 London Olympics, was the only Indian woman to do so. Only 3 Indian players have been able to reach the Discus Throw finals in the Olympics to date, Kamalpreet Kaur being the 3rd now. From the Men’s side, Vikas Gowda reached the Discus Throw finals in the 2012 London Olympics. He finished 8th.
Kamalpreet Kaur threw the Discus 64m far in her third and final attempt to qualify for the Finals. Coming into the finals, Kaur started with a throw of 61.62 and fouled the next throw, unfortunately. Kamalpreet threw the farthest in her third attempt, which was 63.70m. She was among the top 8 finalists out of the total of 12 but she could not improve her throws in the final 3 attempts, hence finished 6th.
Kaur might have not been able to bag a medal for India but her 63.70m throw was the best ever by any Indian Woman in the Olympics. She surpassed Krishna Poonia’s 63.62m throw in the 2012 London Olympics.
Kamalpreet Kaur eyes to play Cricket in Future
Earlier in June this year, Kamalpreet Kaur, in an exclusive interview with The Bridge, revealed that she was in Depression last year. She said that she was thinking of leaving Discus Throw and focusing all her energies in Cricket. She told ‘The Bridge’ that she in fact had started practicing Cricket last year.
“I had reached a point wherein I felt like leaving discus throw altogether and focus all my energies on cricket. In fact, I had even started practicing cricket and left training discus” she said.
She also admitted that she likes Cricket and is fond of Batting in Cricket. She said that she would like to bowl as well but due to a different action as compared to Discus throw, there are chances of getting injured, hence, she’d bat instead. Kaur clearly said that she would play Cricket in the future.
Here’s a video of Kamalpreet Kaur batting
#KamalpreetKaur went into depression in 2020 as she could not practice and compete due to the pandemic.
She almost left discus throw to play cricket.
Now, she is in the Discus Finals at #Tokyo2020! pic.twitter.com/bGOaIFPN7D
— The Bridge (@the_bridge_in) July 31, 2021
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Cricket was a sport, Kamalpreet Kaur, was familiar with since childhood, as she came from Punjab, where the sport is quite famous. She talked about the times when she used to play Cricket with her childhood friends.
“I played Cricket with my cousins and children nearby in my village. Enjoyed playing cricket since childhood.” Kaur said.
Kamalpreet Kaur said that if she knew that cricket tournaments happen for girls as well, then she would’ve been a cricketer for sure. She came to know about the Athletic tournaments through her Physical Education teacher but not about Cricket Tournaments, she said.
