Tajinder Pal Singh Toor wants to breach 22m barrier

Vinayak Padmadeo
Tribune News Service
Patiala, June 28

Tajinder Pal Singh Toor had a target in mind when he stepped onto the throw pitch at the Netaji National Institute of Sports in Patiala today. His coach Mohinder Singh Dhillon had placed two cones past the 22-metre mark as a measure for Toor to cross.

While the target was set, the burly shot putter had doubts about participation. The 27-year-old Arjuna Award winner had a slight pain in his throwing arm and so he was not sure how he would hold up. The plan was to try out a few throws during the warm-up and then decide.

“I have been disturbed by slight muscle tightness for the last 4-5 days. I wanted to see what happened during the warm-up and had I experienced pain I would have not started today. Thankfully there was no pain,” Toor said minutes after registering a throw of 21.10 metres, which is also a new meet record at National Inter-State Athletics Championships.

However, even after deciding to go through with the competition, the Tokyo Olympics-bound thrower was conservative in his first three throws today. Toor registered 20.42, 20.63 and 20.92 in his first three attempts. His second throw was a new meet record -- he bettered the mark set by Inderjeet Singh.

Toor consistently bettered his own mark in his next three throws, finally registering the best of 21.10 in his sixth and final attempt. Despite finishing far above the competitors, Toor said he could have done more. Punjab’s Karnveer Singh and Rajasthan’s Vanam Sharma finished in the other two podium places with best throws of 19.33m and 18.33m, respectively.

“I was conservative in my first three throws because of the muscle issue. I am not happy with my performance as I could record only one good throw,” Toor said while analysing his performance.

“My target was to touch 22 metres today but the arm disturbed me a bit. It is not a major issue and I think I will be fine in 3-4 days,” he added.

Toor, who qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with a national record throw of 21.49m at the Indian Grand Prix last week, said he was looking to cross 22m at the Tokyo Games.

“This was the last competition before the Tokyo Olympics that’s why I took part in the meet. My target is to cross the 22m mark and I am very confident that I will be able to achieve that in Tokyo,” the Asian Games gold medallist said. Mixed day for Annu Rani

Javelin thrower Annu Rani failed to touch the 64m mark to win automatic qualification for the Olympics. She registered 62.83m in her first attempt in the final, but then registered five straight foul throws. Annu is placed 19th as per the world’s ranking quota, which would be enough for her to earn her Tokyo ticket. Annu’s throw was enough for gold medal.