Neeraj spearheads India’s challenge

Considering the good form some athletes are in, it promises to be a memorable outing

Two years ago, Kamalpreet Kaur was in the 60m range but this season the discus thrower has hit a heady high. The 25-year-old, who could manage just 55.59m at the 2019 Doha Asians, broke the National record and bettered her personal best by more than five metres! That 66.59m throw has placed her sixth in this year’s world list. Every time the Olympics come around, many Indian athletes raise their performance magically and become world class. This time too, despite COVID-19 messing up their foreign trips and much of training, the athletes have pleasantly surprised everybody by making the cut for Tokyo in a number of events. When the entry standards for Tokyo were announced, many felt that very few would qualify as athletes needed to break National records in almost all events. Surprisingly, they did just that.