Indian discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur, on Saturday, with a massive 64m throw reached the women’s discus throw final and is literally three throws away from bringing home India’s first Olympic medal in athletics at the 2020 Summer Games.

But her route to the Olympics glory was tough. The 25-year-old athlete encountered problems with her mental health during the COVID-19 lockdown and had started playing cricket to handle the psychological toll of the lockdown.

However, discus remained her first love. 

A resident of Kabarwala village, Punjab, Kamalpreet Kaur was born to a humble farmer family.

As per a PTI report, sitting idle at home during the COVID-19 lockdown had an effect on her mental health, forcing her to get frustrated. She was experiencing depression and had started playing cricket in her village.

“There is a SAI Centre at Badal near her village and we have been training there since 2014 till last year. Due to COVID, everything was shut down and she was feeling depressed (last year). She wanted to compete, especially in Olympics,” Kamalpreet’s coach Rakhi Tyagi told PTI.

“She was feeling restless and it’s true she started playing cricket but that was not for any tournament nor for becoming a professional cricketer. She was just playing cricket at her village playgrounds,” she said.

She finished ahead of defending gold-medallist Sandra Perkovic (63.75m) of Croatia and reigning world champion Yaime Perez (63.18) of Cuba.

She was one of the only two automatic qualifiers for the final round to be held on August 2, the other being American Valarie Allman (66.42m).

Tyagi, a Sports Authority of India coach, could not accompany Kamalpreet to Tokyo but remains optimistic about her ward winning an Olympic medal.

“I speak to her everyday, she was a bit nervous today as it was her first Olympics and I am also not there with her. I told her not to take any pressure and just give her best. I feel a high 66 or 67m can fetch her and the country an athletics medal.”

During the Federation Cup in March, she threw a gargantuan 65.06 m to break the national record and became the first Indian woman to breach the 65m mark.

In June, she followed it up by bettering her own national record with a throw of 66.59m during the Indian Grand Prix-4 and was placed six in the world.

She was reluctant to pursue athletics due to her poor financial background but took it up after her father Kuldeep Singh supported her.

It was her sports teacher at her school at Badal who initiated here to athletics making her compete in zonal and district level meets in 2011-12.

In the U-18 national junior championships in 2013, she finished second and joined SAI at Badal in 2014. She became the national junior champion next year.

Before departing for Tokyo, Kamalpreet sought advice from Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Krishna Poonia, who is the best performer in the sport in the Olympics till now.

“She asked how to go about in Olympics. Since it was her first Olympics, it seems she was a bit tense. I told her just play with a free mind, don’t think about a medal, just think to do your personal best,” Poonia, who finished sixth in 2012 Olympics final, said.

“She has a bright chance to win a medal. That will be the biggest moment in Indian athletics and women of the country will start taking up discus throw and athletics. I am keeping my fingers crossed,” Poonia said.