Can Seema Punia and Kamalpreet Kaur better India’s best performance in discus throw at Tokyo 2020?

Discus throw has been one of the mainstays at the Olympics, and was one of the events of the ancient Greek pentathlon as well. The men’s event has been a constant since modern Olympics were established in 1896 and the women’s event was introduced at Amsterdam 1928.

While the discus weighs 2kg for men’s competition, women have to hurl a disc of 1kg.

The first Indian athlete to compete in discus throw was Praveen Kumar Sobti, who competed in Munich 1972. Sobti threw the discus to 53.12m and finished in the 26th place.

India has competed in the discipline consistently since the turn of the century. At Tokyo 2020, veteran Seema Punia and debutant Kamalpreet Kaur will represent India in discus throw.

On the eve of the competition, we look at India’s best performances in the field event at the Olympics:

London 2012

The Indian discus throwers put on their best show at London 2012.

While three Indians qualified for the event – Vikas Gowda in the men’s and Seema Punia and Krishna Poonia in the women’s field—two of them made it to the final. They also happened to be three of India’s best performances at the Olympics so far.

The US-based Gowda had raised the expectations as he was placed fifth after the qualification round, with his best throw coming at 65.20m. He had registered a personal best of 66.28m in the run-up to the Games.

But on the day of the final, he couldn’t bring his A game. His first throw of 64.79m was enough for him to stay in the competition after first round of eliminations – when four of the weakest performers in the group of 12 get eliminated. That, however, turned out to be his best effort. Gowda had a series of 60.95m, 63.03m, 64.15m, 64.48m and 63.89m in his next five throws and finished eighth in the final.

Krishna Poonia, the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, registered India’s best finish in the discipline as she finished sixth in the final.

She was placed eighth after the qualification round with a throw of 63.54m. In the final, her best effort came on the fifth an and penultimate throw, when she hurdled the discus to 63.62m.

At the time, she was only the sixth Indian athlete to make it to the final round of a track and field event.

Seema Punia, however, did not qualify for the final. She finished 13th in the qualification round with a best throw of 61.91m. Only the top 12 qualify for the main event. But her effort at London 2012 remains her best in the three Olympics she has competed at.

On Saturday, when Punia steps onto the plate for the discus throw qualification event at Tokyo 2020, she will become only the third Indian woman – after Shiny Wilson and Sania Mirza—to compete at four Olympic Games. She made her debut at Athens 2004.