Patiala, Mar 19 (Agency) Indian discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur qualified for the Tokyo Olympics after a fine performance at the ongoing Athletics Federation Cup, here on Friday. Competing against former Asian Games gold medallist Seema Punia, the 25-year-old Kamalpreet hit the ground running with a 65.06 metres throw in her first attempt to book her Tokyo 2020 berth.
Her throw was comfortably above the Olympic qualification benchmark of 63.5m. The performance also helped Kamalpreet break the existing national record of 64.76 metres that was set by Krishna Poonia in 2012. Notably, Krishna Poonia had earlier broken Seema Antil’s national record of 64.64 meters. This is the first time the 65m mark has been breached in women’s discus throw by and Indian. Seema Punia took the silver with 62.64 metres while Delhi’s Sonal Goyal won the bronze with a 52.11 metres throw.