India's Kamalpreet Kaur secured a place in women's discus throw final on Saturday with a superb performance. Kamalpreet, with a throw of 64m, was only the second athlete among 31 others to book a final berth via automatic qualification. Every discus thrower got three attempts, those who threw 64m or the best 12 across Group A and B qualified for the final. Apart from Kamalpreet, USA's Valarie Allman breached the 64m-mark with a throw of 66.42m. Another Indian in the women's discus throw event, veteran Seema Punia failed to qualify for the final as her best throw in three attempts was 60.57.
The video of Kamalpreet's "monster throw" that helped her qualify for the final was a major hit on Twitter.
"There goes #IND's first #Athletics finalist at #Tokyo2020. After a slow start with a throw of 60.29m, Kamalpreet Kaur pulled out a monster throw of 64m in her third attempt to qualify for the final of women's discus throw event," Twitter handle for Tokyo 2020 for India captioned the video.
Watch the video here:
Kamalpreet started with a throw of 60.29m but in her next throw she improved and nearly breached the automatic qualification mark (64m) with a throw of 63.97. Her final attempt saw her secure an automatic place in the final.
Kamalpreet had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with a throw 65.06 metres during the Athletics Federation Cup earlier this year. However, her best performance this season had come in June during the Indian Grand Prix where she threw 66.59m.
Kamalpreet will be in action on Monday in the final of women's discus throw event at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 25-year-old is in with a chance to become the first Indian female to win a medal in athletics at the Olympics.