Who is Kamalpreet Kaur? The Indian Discus Thrower in the Final at Tokyo Olympics

India is in the finals thanks to discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur at the Tokyo Olympics. Kamalpreet Kaur becomes first Indian to touch 64 meters in #Discus in the Olympics. She has qualified for the final round. This is a big story. In her qualifying round she did 60.29 meters, 63.97 meters, 64 meters.

Kamalpreet Kaur is the Indian discus thrower in spotlight at Olympic Games in Tokyo. Kaur is well known for having set a national record in discus throw with an attempt of 65.06 m. She beat her own record to 66.59 at the Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships  held in Patiala in Punjab on 21 June 2021.

What a fantastic performance by the 25 year old who has been wishing to win an Olympic gold. She was among two players to get an automatic entry into the finals along with the athlete from United States Valleria Allman. Kaur will compete with Allman.

Kamalpreet Kaur is the first Indian female to have breached the 65 m mark in Discus on home soil and then followed it up by breaking into 66. 

Who is Kamalpreet Kaur?

• The 25-year-old qualified for the Olympics in Tokyo
• Her Discus throws got global attention at the Olympics during the qualifiers
• From Punjab, Kaur's journey has been a one of humble beginnings and relentless hard work.
• She was interested in sport all through growing up and then her coach encouraged her to pick discus.

Kaur hails from a little village in Punjab called Badal. She grew up interested in everything non-academic. Her coach was impressed with her physical strength and suggested to her to take up athletics. Soon enough she finished in the top five at the Punjab state athletic meet.

“I was really bad at studies. There was a state meet and my coach took me there," Kaur reportedly said in an interview. Her good physical health and physique meant the coaches bet big on her potential and since her sport coach was into discus, she took affinity to it.

Growing Into A Professional

Kamalpreet Kaur took the hard work route to stardom. She got listed with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for training full time. Very soon she picked titles of the U-18 and U-20 national championships in 2016. At the World University Games, she finished sixth in 2017.

At Asian Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019, she finished fifth.

Humble Home to Olympics in Tokyo

Growing up she had a modest childhood, and a simple village life. But her ambitions were big once she took up sport. Encouraged by her coaches, and seeing other women train at the Sports Authority of India, Kaur surged in her game. Seema Punia, the other big name from India in discus remains her inspiration even now. Punia too qualified for the Tokyo Olympics but finished 16 in the qualifiers and didn't make it to the finals.

Badal Village

Named after the political Badal family, it is situated in Sri Muktsar Sahib District's Lambi Sub-Division (Tehsil). The village is famous for its political affiliations and is always a hotspot of many prominent Indian Political Parties.

Speaking about the challenges she had to face, in order to pursue sports despite hailing from a conservative village, Kaur said, "They (people of her village0 believe that a girl should focus on her studies. If she is unable to study then teach her how to do household chores and get her married. So, it used to be very tough for me since childhood."

Kaur hopes to change this attitude with her Olympic run. "In my village, one girl’s mistake affects the life of 100 other girls. All other girls will be given the example that that one particular girl did that wrong," said Kaur, further adding that now  she feels that she has done something, and she'll be a good example for girls. "I feel this change will come."

Discus Throw

This is an athletics event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther than all others in the competition. Each person gets a minimum of three chances.

It's a sport being played for centuries and was also part of the ancient Greece first Olympic games.

Dronacharya award winner athletics coach Virendra Poonia has bet big on Kamalpreet Kaur getting a podium finish at the Tokyo Olympics. Poonia has gone on record to say that if Kaur can repeat her finish from the Federation Cup, that's a very 'encouraging' sign.

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