Watch: Kamalpreet Kaur’s discus throw that landed her into the Tokyo Olympics final

Indian discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur on Saturday made it to the finals of the women’s discus throw event at the Tokyo Olympics. Kaur finished second in the qualifying round. The final will be held on August 2.

The 25-year-old Kaur, competing in qualification B, sent the discus to a distance of 64m in her third and final attempt to be one of the only two automatic qualifiers for the final round, the other being American Valarie Allman (66.42m).

The athletes who throw the discus over 64m or the 12 best performers in the two qualifying rounds make it to the final.

The Indian ended ahead of defending gold-medallist Sandra Perkovic (63.75m) of Croatia and reigning world champion Yaime Perez (63.18) of Cuba. Perkovic qualified at third and Perez at seventh.

Also read: Kamalpreet Kaur, once depressed, can win India’s 1st athletics Olympic medal

But veteran Seema Punia made an exit after finishing sixth in qualification A and 16th overall with a below-par best throw of 60.57m.

In her first throw, Kaur achieved a 60.29m. She followed it up with a 63.97. Kaur’s third and final throw touched the 64m mark.

The Punjab athlete has been in impressive form this year as she breached the 65m mark twice recently.

She threw 65.06m during the Federation Cup in March to break the national record and become the first Indian to breach the 65m mark.

Then in June, she bettered her own national record with a throw of 66.59m during the Indian Grand Prix-4 to sit at world number six.

Punia, who had booked a last minute Olympics berth, was way below her season and personal best marks.

She fouled her first throw and had 60.57m and 58.93m in her next two attempts to make an exit from what would be her last Olympics.

The 38-year-old Haryana athlete had made it to the Olympics on the day of qualification deadline with a throw of 63.72m during the National Inter-State Championships in Patiala on June 29.

She has a personal best of 64.84m, a performance she produced way back in 2004.