Tokyo: Indian Shot Putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor finished in the 13th position after a best score of 19.99m in the qualification round of Men’s Shot Put at Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday.He was placed in Group A with 15 other athletes including World number 2 Joe Kovacs from USA and World number 4 Tomas Walsh from New Zealand.
Toor, who entered the round with a personal best of 21.49, threw at a distance of 19.99m in his first attempt to land in the 6th position. Unfortunately, that was the end of his legitimate throws. The Asian Champion’s next two attempts were invalid and he was pushed down to the 13th position.
Meanwhile, The World Number 4 New Zealand Shot putter had the best score in the group with 21.49m to get the automatic qualification. Brazil’s Darlan Romani and Egypt’s Mostafa Amr Hassan also crossed the qualification mark with 21.31 and 21.23 respectively, to qualify to the finals.
Group B qualification round is yet to take place but that wouldn’t affect the Indian’s outcome as only the athletes who cross the qualification mark of 21.20m or 12 best performances qualify to the next round. Being in neither of the above category, the Indian’s Tokyo Olympics campaign ends in disappointment.