"I have very little international exposure and that cost me here in Tokyo" - Kamalpreet Kaur examines reasons for not reaching her personal best at Olympics 2021

Indian discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur finished in the sixth place in the finals of the women's discus throw at the 2021 Olympics. Valerie Allman won the gold medal at the Olympic Stadium on Monday.

Valarie took the top place with a throw of 68.98 meters, while the silver medal was taken by Pudenz Kristin of Germany with a throw of 66.86m. Perez Yaime threw 65.72m to win the bronze medal.

Kamalpreet’s best effort of the 63.7m came on her third attempt. The Indian national record holder threw 61.62m in the first attempt and 63.7m in the third and 61.37 in the fifth attempt. She made three no-throws in the second, fourth, and sixth attempt.

Kamalpreet failed to better her performance (a throw of 64.0m) from the qualification rounds and finished 6th in the final.

Her personal best was the 66.59m throw she registered at the Indian Grand prix-4 at the NIS, Patiala on 21st June 2021. Before Kamalpreet, Krishna Puni held the record for India in the Olympics final, when she finished 6th at the 2012 London Games.

After her performance earlier today, Kamalpreet Kaur spoke to the media.

She said:

"I was nervous from the first throw itself. It started to get better but then the rain interrupted play. The weather lowered my confidence because I have never done well in rainy conditions. Nonetheless, I tried to improve and deliver my best performance."

Kamalpreet Kaur participated in her first Olympics

Kamalpreet added:

"I have very little international exposure and that cost me here in Tokyo. If I had more international exposure, maybe i could have done better. So far I've only participated in Asian championships and World University Games."

"It was a very big day for me. I was expecting to win a medal but unfortunately it didn't happen. I wasn't satisfied with my performance. My personal best is 66.59m. Had I repeated the same performance, it would have won me a medal today."

Kamalpreet Kaur is looking forward to improving on her performances in the upcoming tournaments

Kaur was quick to shrug off the disappointment and said she is looking forward to the upcoming tournaments. She said:

"I want to perform well at World Championships, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. I don't want to be nervous in those tournaments. I want to win a gold medal there."

Kaur also spoke about her desire to train at SAI. She said it would have helped her get into a good diet, which in turn would have helped her performance. Kaur said:

"I gave my trials for SAI but I didn't get selected on my first attempt. So I improved my game so that i get selected for SAI. It is important for me to get selected as they provide a good diet."