Punjab Village to Olympics : Discus Thrower Kamalpreet Kaur Has An Inspiring Story. Meet the Rookie

Who is Kamalpreet Kaur: Kaur has secured India a place in the Women's Discus Throw Final with an attempt of 64 meter. She got a distance of 63.97 on her second attempt, after 60.29 on her first, while the qualifying mark was 64.00. She finished second overall in qualification, right behind American Vallerie Allman.

Ladies & Gentlemen:
Meet Tokyo Olympics Discus Throw Finalist: Kamalpreet Kaur.
And she does it in style; Achieving Qualifying mark of 64m; Finished 2nd overall in Qualification.
Such a proud proud moment for Indian Athletics ❤️#Tokyo2020 #Tokyo2020withIndia_AllSports pic.twitter.com/NQnQ88c8ir

— India_AllSports (@India_AllSports) July 31, 2021

Who is Kamalpreet Kaur?

Kaur qualified for the Tokyo Olympics when she breached the 65.06m mark at the Athletics Federation Cup in March earlier this year and in the process also set a new national record. The 24-year-old made her debut at the Olympics. 

Noted here, Kaur became the first Indian woman to breach the 65m mark in the discus throw, outdoing her idol, Seema Punia, on the day. Three months later, the six-foot one-inch tall athlete outdid herself and set the further mark to 66.59m.

Kaur had turned to the sport predominantly because she wasn’t doing that well at academics. She had started as a shot-put athlete and eventually took up discus throw. Even now she dreams of becoming a professional cricketer. Her father is a farmer and coming from a village, much like other girls, she was too under pressure to get married at a very early age, she told Scroll earlier this year.

“I knew that if I don’t do well in academics and am not able to make it to a good college, my fate would be the same," the national record holder in the women’s discus said. However, she was determined to do something different. She decided to try her fate in sports as that could be her ticket to a job and avoiding marriage. Furthermore, her physical education teacher in school motivated her to participate in a state-level meet when she was in Class 10. More here.

The athlete from Punjab’s Sri Muktsar Sahib district has come a long way since. She bettered her national record and became the first Indian woman to cross the 65-meter mark and qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. In June she reworked on the mark again, her 66.59 metre throw was a huge improvement on her previous best of 65.06.

On August 2, Kamalpreet Kaur will be participating in the discuss throw finals. If she manages to win a medal, Kaur will secure the first-ever track and field medal for the country. The event is scheduled for 4: 30 PM IST on Monday. The athlete has displayed great form so far and hopes that her Olympic journey will help enhance the lives of young girls in her orthodox village. "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. I feel now that I’ve done something, I’ll be a good example for girls. I feel this change will come," said Kaur.

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