Tajinder qualifies for Tokyo, Dutee breaks national mark at Indian GP
Tajinder Pal Singh Toor qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with a massive throw of 21.49m—breaking his national record of 20.92—at the Indian Grand Prix (IGP)-4 athletics meet
Asian Games shot put champion Tajinder Pal Singh Toor qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with a massive throw of 21.49m—breaking his national record of 20.92—at the Indian Grand Prix (IGP)-4 athletics meet in Patiala on Monday. The Olympics qualification mark is 21.10m.
Toor had struggled to breach the mark in earlier meets in March (19.49m in IGP-2 and 20.51m in the Federation Cup) but was confident of pulling off one big throw. That heave came with his very first throw at the National Institute of Sports on Monday. He surpassed 21 metres in the remaining three valid throws as well—21.28, 21.13 and 21.13— while his second and sixth attempts were no throws.
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With the athletics squad not able to enter international competitions in April and May due to travel restrictions imposed on Indians following the second wave of Covid, qualification for Tokyo has come down to the last couple of events at home to meet the June 29 deadline.
Toor and the rest of the pack did not disappoint, producing some scintillating performances. There will be one last opportunity for Indian athletes during the Inter-state meet in Patiala on June 29.
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Toor said he was inspired after watching Ryan Crouser smash the long-standing shot put world record last week with a massive heave of 23.37m at the US Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon.
“It was a big motivation and I just wanted to go out there and give it my all,” said Toor, 26. “It was a very difficult period with no competition coming our way. I was gradually coming back after injury in my right hand last year. I was shaping up well but then we were scheduled to take part in competition in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. When that did not happen, this was the only chance. I am happy I was able to make the cut today.”
His throw was better than the 21.36m New Zealand’s Tomas Walsh achieved to win bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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Dutee scorches track
Top woman sprinter Dutee Chand came agonisingly close to direct qualification in 100m with a superb run. In hot conditions that favour sprinters, she set a national record of 11:17 seconds, falling short of the Tokyo Olympics qualification mark (11:15) by .02sec. She will aim to go all out on June 29 though she is in the reckoning through the Road To Tokyo rankings. She is currently placed 42nd and should make the cut.
It was sharp improvement by Chand from her last race in the Federation Cup in March, where she clocked 11.58 secs and was beaten by S Dhanalakshmi to the top spot. In February, she ran 11.51sec in IGP-1, and 11.44 secs in IGP-2. She did not enter IGP-3. Her previous national mark of 11.22 secs was set in 2019.
Dutee ran a blistering anchor leg and with Hima Das powered the women’s 4X100m relay team to a national record of 43.37s. Dhanalakshmi and Archana Suseentran ran the other legs. Two Indian teams and one from Maldives participated in the relay. The previous record of 43.42s came in 2016. Having missed the World Relays in Silesia, Poland in May, the relay teams needed to clock good timings to keep themselves in contention for a Tokyo berth through world rankings. This will put them in the 20th place in the Race to Tokyo rankings. Only the top 16 will qualify.
Das also came close to qualification in 200m, clocking 22.88 secs (qualification 22.80). Harmilan Kaur Bains was not far off the Tokyo mark in women’s 1500m. Chasing the qualification timing of 4:04.20, she clocked 4:08.27.
In the long jump, Tokyo-bound Murali Sreeshankar managed only 7.74m, way off his national mark of 8.26m in Federation Cup to qualify (8.22m). In javelin, Annu Rani, yet to qualify, achieved 60.58m. The qualification mark is 64. Her season’s best is 63.24m and she is well placed (19th in rankings) to make the cut.
Kamalpreet sets discus record
There was another big heave, this one by Kamalpreet Kaur in discus. She recorded a throw of 66.59m, which was better than her national record of 65.06m achieved in Federation Cup that helped her clinch a Tokyo berth. The effort though is unlikely to be ratified as national record as she was the lone competitor. Denia Caballero of Cuba won bronze in Rio with a throw of 65.34m.