Indian discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur made India hopeful of a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by producing a scintillating performance in the women’s qualification round and entered the women’s final, which will be played on August 4.

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. American Valarie Allman topped the qualification round with a throw of 66.42m.

She 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.

The other Indian in the fray, veteran Seema Punia, made a sad exit after finishing sixth in qualification A and 16th overall with a best throw of 60.57m.

Kaur began with a 60.29m effort and then improved it to 63.97m before her third throw of 64m.

Those who touch 64m or at least 12 best performers in the two qualifying rounds advance to the final.

The athlete from Punjab 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.

Season leader Jorinde van Klinken of Netherlands failed to make the final round cut with a modest throw of 61.15m.

She has a season’s best of 70.22m while Allman is second best this year at 70.01m.

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.