Kamalpreet Kaur would have won Tokyo Olympics silver if there was no rain: Coach Rakhi Tyagi

Had it not been for the rain that disrupted the women’s discus throw final, Kamalpreet Kaur would have won silver for India at the Tokyo Olympics, says her long-time coach Rakhi Tyagi.

Apart from men’s javelin throw gold medallist Neeraj Chopra, Kamalpreet Kaur was the only other Indian to make the final of an athletics event in Tokyo.

And while Asian Games and Commonwealth Games champion Neeraj Chopra was being considered a medal prospect in the run-up to Tokyo 2020, Kamalpreet had stunned by qualifying for the Summer Games at the Federation Cup in Patiala in March with a new national record.

Kamalpreet Kaur’s throw of 65.06m – the first 65-plus attempt by an Indian woman -- had shattered the near-decade-long mark (64.76m) set by Krishna Poonia in 2012.

For someone who could not even qualify for the 2018 Asian Games, the 25-year-old Kamalpreet was now a runaway train. In June, she threw an incredible 66.59m at the Indian Grand Prix in Patiala. It is not considered a national record as she was the only competitor.

At the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Kristin Pudenz of Germany took silver with 66.86m.

“My expectation was that she (Kamalpreet) will throw 67-plus,” Rakhi Tyagi told Olympics.com.

But Kamalpreet Kaur managed a best of 63.7m in the final to finish sixth.

Kamalpreet’s qualification attempt of 64m had been behind only eventual gold medallist Valarie Allman of the USA, who threw a massive 68.98m in her first attempt in the final before the rain forced an interruption.

Liliana Ca of Portugal, who finished fifth, slipped and fell in the circle on one of her attempts just before the temporary stoppage.

“The circle can be smooth at some venues and rough elsewhere. The Tokyo circle was already a bit slippery as it was quite smooth,” explains Tyagi. “And when it rained, the throwers began to slip and they stopped the event.

“Athletes weren’t able to find any grip at all on the floor. So it was like you were almost making a standing throw; you were rotating, yes, but that rotation was not giving you any advantage.”

Rakhi Tyagi was unable to be with Kamalpreet in Tokyo. In a measure perhaps of just where Kamalpreet stood on the expectations scale, Tyagi’s name was not even in the long list of names submitted for accreditation by the Athletics Federation of India a few months before Tokyo 2020.

The coach did what she could. Rakhi Tyagi remained in constant touch, even passing advice on phone to other Indian coaches in the stands during Kamalpreet’s event so that they could relay it to her ward. It wasn’t the same as being there herself, of course.

Rakhi Tyagi relates what Kamalpreet Kaur told her after the final. “She said, ‘ma’am if you were here, I would have definitely got the medal. I felt your absence here a lot. My training could not be as good because you were not here.’”

She adds, “I did not let her regret it too much though.”

Coach Rakhi Tyagi has stoked and harnessed Kamalpreet’s visible fire for years now, having been in charge of her since February 2014.

And as soon as she first saw Kamalpreet at the Sports Authority of India Training Centre in Badal, Punjab, Rakhi Tyagi realised there was something different about this strapping teenager.

“Right from the time I first saw her, I knew she had that something extra. She was not as tall and well-built as she is now. She has gained height and weight over the years through working out, but even then, she was pretty sturdy for her age. I had felt then that if she was given proper training and guidance, she would do well.”

For someone who would be inconsolable after failure, Kamalpreet Kaur has needed, and prospered, from Rakhi Tyagi’s guidance.

Kamalpreet Kaur even contemplated quitting the sport after she failed to make it to the Asian Games. Tyagi says there had been some rain around then as well. It had taken a while for the coach to make her overcome the disappointment.

“It takes time for an athlete’s mindset to adjust if he or she works hard and is still unable to qualify for a major competition. And being part of her family too, it is a coach’s duty to motivate the player, not let her morale get low.”

Tyagi talks about being part of Kamalpreet’s family as matter-of-factly as one would normally talk about one’s actual family. And over the years, she has actually become like family; the student stayed at the teacher’s place when accommodation was an issue in the early stages and Tyagi has often spent time at Kamalpreet’s family home on off days.

Egged on by Tyagi, Kamalpreet Kaur shattered the meet record at the All India Railways Athletics Championship in Lucknow in August 2018, even as the Asian Games had just begun in Jakarta.

Kamalpreet Kaur’s 61.04m was the first time she had thrown 60-plus in a competition. “She was going 60-plus only in practice earlier,” says Tyagi.

Things were starting to come together for young Kamalpreet, whose confidence was still fragile enough to falter if her idol Seema Punia, the now four-time Olympian, was also participating in the same event.

“The experience of, say, a 30-year-old usually translates into confident body language. And the younger player who is lacking in experience looks at that and thinks that I am behind on confidence,” says Tyagi.

That old hesitation was absent in Tokyo, feels Rakhi Tyagi, where Kamalpreet Kaur held her own against the world’s best.

“This time I felt that Kamal had no fear and if there was no rain, she would have done even better. I knew that she would have got a silver, definitely.

“She has given her best effort despite a slippery circle because of the rain where many other athletes also could not do well.”

During the lockdown, Kamalpreet’s training routine at home in village Kabarwala near Malout in Punjab involved running in the fields, lifting her bed filled with clothes and using flower pots as dumbbells.

It was anything but ideal and Rakhi Tyagi knows the world No. 10 will need better preparation ahead of the 2022 world championships.

“She will have to play as many international competitions as she can, and compete with players who are at her level. And because of COVID, working on fitness has been a challenge so we will work harder on her fitness.

“(In Tokyo) she was competing at the top level for the first time since the pandemic. To get sixth place on your first trip to the Olympics is not bad… she has told me she will do better at the world championships.”