HIGHLIGHTS

• India’s Kamalpreet Kaur finishes second in discus qualification to make finals
• Kamalpreet qualified for the finals with a throw of 64m in her third and final attempt
• Farm duty kept Kamaplpreet’s father busy as she missed her daughter’s qualifying round

Kuldeep Singh, father of India’s discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur, missed his daughter’s remarkable performance in the qualifying round as he was busy working at his farm.

Kamalpreet Kaur produced one of the best performances by an Indian in the Olympics as she qualified for the finals with a throw of 64m in her third and final attempt. She became one of the only two automatic qualifiers for the final round, the other being American Valarie Allman (66.42m).

“Kamal told me yesterday about the timing. I waited, but broadcasters were showing something else. I didn’t wait much as I had some work to do at my farm,” Kuldeep Singh, a proud father of Kamalpreet Kaur, told IndiaToday.In.

“When I was working at my farm, I started getting calls and messages and then only rushed back to my house. I will watch highlights later in the day,” he added.

Kamalpreet, who hails from Badal village in Sri Muktsar Sahib, Punjab, began with a 60.29m effort and then improved it to 63.97m before her third throw of 64m. The Indian ended ahead of defending gold-medallist Sandra Perkovic (63.75m) of Croatia and reigning world champion Yaime Perez (63.18) of Cuba. Perkovic qualified at third and Perez at seventh.

Kamalpreet has been in impressive form this year as she breached the 65m mark twice recently.

She threw 65.06m during the Federation Cup in March to break the national record and become the first Indian to breach the 65m mark.

Then in June, she bettered her national record with a throw of 66.59m during the Indian Grand Prix-4 to sit at world number six.

The 6 feet 1-inch tall athlete broke onto the scene in the 2019 Federation Cup, when she broke the nine-year-old national record in the 2019 Federation Cup in Patiala. She broke the nine-year-old national record of 64.76m in the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Krishna Poonia.

The same throw helped her to book the Olympic quota.

Kamalpreet is known for breaking records; at the Inter-Railways athletics meet in 2018, she pipped Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Navjeet Kaur Dhillon for the gold medal. In the same event, she broke Krishna Poonia’s six-year Railway record.

The final will be held on August 2, and Kuldeep, by no means, is going to miss the event.

“I am not going to miss it for anything. I hope she will return with a medal,” he signed off