How Kamalpreet Kaur missed a medal at the Tokyo Olympics

The star Indian discus thrower, Kamalpreet Kaur, missed out on a golden opportunity to end the country's drought of an Olympic medal in athletics at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.

The 25-year-old finished with a best of 63.70m and finished at the sixth position. Regardless of the result Kamalpreet Kaur now holds the record of the best ever throw by an Indian woman in the final of discus throw at the Olympics. She went past the previous best of 63.62m by Krishna Poonia set at the 2012 London Olympics.

Kamalpreet Kaur looked far off her best today at the Olympic stadium, and could not even touch the 64m mark she had thrown during the qualification round a couple of days back. In fact, her personal best throw of 66.59m which she had set during the Indian Grand Prix (IGP) 4 would have earned her a bronze here at the Tokyo Olympics.

The Punjab girl started with a modest throw of 61.62m in her first attempt, before fouling in her second just before the rain interruption.

Resuming after the break, Kamalpreet registered a distance of 63.70 in her third attempt to move into the final 8 and survive from being eliminated.

But, she just failed to replicate or better that throw fouling in her fourth attempt before throwing 61.37 in her fifth.

With the pressure firmly on her to surpass the 65m barrier during her final attempt in order to stay in contention for a podium finish, Kamalpreet Kaur fouled yet again throwing the discus out of the throwing area to settle for the sixth position in the Olympic final!

Kamalpreet Kaur might have failed to clinch a medal at the Tokyo Olympics, but her show today at the Olympic stadium is the best Indian athletics has seen at the quadrennial event in a long long time. This is the joint best performance by an Indian in athletics since Anju Bobby George's fifth-place finish at the 2004 Athens Games.