Athletics
BREAKING: Javelin thrower Shivpal Singh qualifies for Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Less than a month after India's star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra qualified for the Olympics, Shivpal Singh today became the second javelin thrower of the country to qualify for Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The 24-year-old lad from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh threw a distance of 85.47m in a ANCW meet today in Potchefstroom, South Africa.
Minutes after his throw, Athletics Federation of India could confirm via Twitter that Shivpal has qualified for the Olympics.
Shivpal Singh qualifies for #Olympics @Tokyo2020 with a performance of 85.47m in Men's Javelin in #SouthAfrica.
Annu Rani threw 61.15m in her first competition of the year, good start for.
— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) March 10, 2020
He became the second thrower after Neeraj to qualify for the Olympics. Neeraj had thrown a distance of 87.86m in Athletics Central North East Meeting League meet in February. Another Indian Akshdeep Singh finished third with a best throw of 75m.
Shivpal Singh had won a gold medal in the ongoing seventh CISM Military World Games in Wuhan, China last year.
Four athletes took part in the event. Chopra had qualified for the Tokyo Games with a throw of 87.86m at another ACNW League meeting in January. Both of them are currently training in South Africa.
Shivpal has a personal best of 86.23m while winning a silver medal in the Asia Championships in Doha last year. He also took part in the prestigious Diamond League meeting in the Oslo leg (Norway) last year, finishing eighth with a throw of 80.87m.