Toor could only manage a best throw of 19.99m and it was not good enough for him to make it through to the final.
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Indian athlete Tajinderpal Singh Toor failed to qualify for the final of the men’s shot put event after a disappointing showing in group A qualification. Toor could only manage a best throw of 19.99m and it was not good enough for him to make it through to the final. There were two ways by which an athlete could qualify. They must record a throw that goes at least over 21.20m, or they must be among the 12 best performers in both group A and B. Toor finished in 13th place, effectively finishing his Olympic dream, and must return home empty-handed. He could only make his first throw count as the other two were counted as invalid. It would not have mattered either way since the best throw of the three is taken into consideration, and the Indian failed to improve on his first throw.
Three athletes earned automatic qualification to the finals from the group A qualification event. 2016 bronze medalist and New Zealand athlete Tomas Walsh recorded a throw of 21.49m in his final attempt, earning him direct qualification. That throw was debated for a while as it was initially called an invalid attempt. After much deliberation, the judges decided that the throw was legal, and Walsh made it through to the final.
The 2018 and 2019 Brazilian athlete of the year Darlan Romani had the second-best throw of the qualifiers. He also secured automatic qualification as his attempt flew a whopping 21.31m. Egyptian athlete Mostafa Amr Hassan was the third person to earn automatic qualification to the final. He recorded a personal season-best throw of 21.23m, which was just 0.03m more than the required distance for automatic qualification.
It has not been a day that India would like to remember at the Olympics so far. Earlier, athlete Annu Rani also failed to qualify to the finals of the women’s javelin throw event. Her best throw was only 54.04m. That is nowhere close to the automatic qualification mark. That mark was set at 63m and Rani’s best was nearly 9m short. She could have also qualified had she been one of the top 12 performers in both groups. However, Rani could not break into the top 12 in her own group. She could only manage to finish in 14th, which was the last place.
Wrestler Sonam Malik also failed to reach the quarter-final of the women’s freestyle 62kg event after a heartbreaking loss to Mongolian wrestler Bolortuya Khurelkhuu. The scoreline at the end of the bout was 2-2. The athlete from Mongolia was adjudged the winner on separation criteria. Sonam put up a very good fight but it was just not to be for the Indian wrestler.
