A sport known for strength display, these women are rockstars
Discus throw, a sport requiring throwing a heavy metal plate applying all your strength to the farthest distance, is no cakewalk. When you think of it, the first image that comes to your mind is that of a man taking a shot at it. However, though it was initially a sport meant only for men, women slowly are making in-roads. A sport that is played in the Olympics has seen women athletes taking part in the discus throw. And Indian women athletes are not far behind in this sport. Here is a list of some of the most outstanding Indian women discus throwers.
KamalpreetKaur
Punjab-born discus thrower KamalpreetKaur is the first Indian woman to breach the 65m barrier. Kaur first won her gold at discus throw in 2019 at the Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championship with a throw of 60.25m. Then, at the 24th Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships, Kaur created history by becoming the first Indian woman to breach the 65m barriers in the discus throw. At the championship, the second time in a row, Kaur finished at the top. And at the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics 2020, Kaur gave her best performance and finished 6th in the discus throw.
TayabunNisha
Former athlete TayabunNisha is known for breaking a 12-year-old national record in Discus throw in 1974. Before that, in 1971, at the 9th Inter-State Athletic Meet, making her debut, Nisha won a bronze medal. Therefore, Kaur created history by becoming the first woman athlete from Assam to win an award at a national level championship.
Krishna Poonia
She is the first Indian woman athlete to have won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Poonia declared a sweeping win of the discus event by clearing 61.5 meters. Not just this, Poonia is the first Indian woman to have won a gold medal in track and field events of Commonwealth games and the first Indian to have won a gold medal in such events after Milkha Singh. Poonia is also a recipient of the Padma Shri and Arjuna Award. Currently, Poonia is a politician from the Congress party and the current MLA from the Sadulpur constituency in Rajasthan.
NeelamJaswant Singh
Singh started her streak of gold wins from the Kosanova International Athlete Meet, in 2000 another gold medal at the ATF. In 1998 Singh won a bronze medal at the Bangkok Asian Games. However, her personal best throw is 64.55 meters that she claimed at the 2002 Asian Games. Singh was conferred with the Arjuna Award in 1998 for her talent.
A few other discus throw athletes are NavjeetKaurDhillon, KaramjyotiDalal, HarwantKaur, SeemaPunia, and V. AnusuyaBai.
