On the final day of the Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Championships in Patiala, the 25-year old athlete created history in women’s discus throw as she set a national record securing her place in the Tokyo Olympics.
Kamalpreet, a clerk with the Indian Railways, hurled the discus to 65.06m improving on her earlier personal best by four metres, which is above the Olympic qualification benchmark of 63.5m. She surpassed the nine-year-old earlier national record of 64.76m which was in the name of Olympian and 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Krishna Poonia.
Picture courtesy: @Twitter/sportsbeatindia
At the ceremony the medal was presented to Kamalpreet by veteran Seema Punia, who is one of her idols. In a statement to the media, Kaur said, “It was my strategy to go all out in the first throw itself and it worked for me. I cannot convey in words how happy I am feeling now. I couldn’t sleep for the last three nights because of the nervous excitement. I am really glad that I have broken her record. She said I was doing well and that she knew I would break the record.”