Patiala, June 21

Punjab shot putter Tajinder Pal Singh Toor qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with an Asian and national record throw at the Indian Grand Prix 4 here today.

Toor in his groove

Tajinder Pal Singh Toor qualified for the Tokyo Olympics at Indian Grand Prix-4 held at NIS Patiala today. Amid electrifying Punjabi music, Toor hurled the iron ball to 21.49m. Toor’s coach, Mohinder Singh Dhillon, said that Punjabi music was a way Toor usually pumped himself up even during training. “Even in training, he (Toor) needs music. He has his own speaker and he listens to music during training and competition. It helps him not get distracted,” Dhillon said. The coach added that Toor’s performance, given the pressure of qualification, was impressive. “When you know you have one or two competitions left to qualify, it adds to the pressure. Now, he is likely to throw freely in the next competition,” Dhillon said, referring to the inter-state championship to be held in Patiala on June 25-29.

— Karam Prakash

The 26-year-old crossed the Olympics qualification mark of 21.10m with a throw of 21.49m, which was his first attempt, and broke his own national record. The 2018 Asian Games gold winner also came up with big throws of 21.28m, 21.12m and 21.13m. The previous national record, which was also in Toor’s name, stood at 20.92m and was set in 2019. He also shattered the Asian record of 21.13m, which was in the name of Sultan Abdulm Al Hebshi of Saudi Arabia since 2009. “I am very happy to qualify for my first Olympics. Moreover, it was Asian as well as national record,” Toor said. “I was confident of crossing the qualification mark because I was doing 21.20m to 21.40m. So, it was not a surprise for me. I am looking forward to doing well in Tokyo. It was a bit hot today but the conditions were all right otherwise,” he added.

Toor said the qualification has come as a welcome return of good fortune for him. “I had several injuries last year and by the time I was fit, the Covid-19 restrictions came into place. This tournament is a big relief for me. I am now aiming to cross 22m,” he said.

To put Toor’s performance into perspective, the bronze winners in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics had crossed 21.23m and 21.36m, respectively.

Kamalpreet beats her mark

Olympics-bound Kamalpreet Kaur bettered her earlier national record mark in women’s discus throw by hurling the iron disc to a distance of 66.59m. But her performance will not be counted as the new national record as she was the lone competitor in the event. “As per rules, for national record purposes, the number of competitors should at least be three. So, her performance will not be counted as national record. But it will be considered for other purposes like ranking,” AFI secretary Ravinder Chaudhry said.

Her performance today will place her 8th in the Road to Tokyo list, and could put her in the medal contention bracket. The bronze medal winners in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics came up with 66.38m and 65.34m efforts, respectively.

The national women’s 4x100m relay team, however, failed to place itself inside the Olympics qualifying bracket despite a record effort of its own. The quartet of Hima Das, Dutee Chand, S Dhanalakshmi and Archana Suseendran clocked 43.37 seconds to win the race. The Indian team bettered the previous record of 43.42 seconds set in 2016 by the quartet of Merlin K Joseph, H M Jyothi, Srabani Nanda and Dutee. But they failed to clock below 43.05 seconds needed to be among the top 16 teams in the Road to Tokyo list.

Dutee also shattered the national record in the women’s 100m event. She completed the race in 11.17 seconds, agonisingly close to the Olympics qualification time 11.15. The previous record was 11.22 seconds, also in the name of Dutee.

Star sprinter Hima Das clinched the 200m top honours with a time of 22.88 seconds. Her timing was not far behind the automatic qualification mark of 22.80 seconds.

In men’s long jump, Olympics-bound M Sreeshankar won the event with a best effort of 7.74m. National record holder javelin thrower Annu Rani won her event with a throw of 60.58m, which was well below the qualification mark of 64m. — PTI